Table of Contents
1. The plan
The plan was simple for the day (if we were to achieve it), start very early, visit Matanga hill and then proceed to the next destination from Hampi.
2. Monolithic Nandi Bull
We woke up at 5.30 AM and were ready to leave by 6 AM. This was going to be a walk so we let the bike stay at the guest house. We quickly got out of the bylanes and were in front of the Virupaksha temple. We did a quick namaskar from outside and then proceeded in the opposite direction. The first visible thing is the huge monolithic Nandi bull facing the temple.
If we carry on beyond the Nandi statue, then we can reach the Vitthala temple directly (remember the unpaved road behind the Vitthala temple from our Day 2 blog).
3. Matanga hills Part 1 – The fail
On the right side of the Nandi, there is a stairway which marks the start of the hike to the top of the hill.
We read from blogs and also spoke to people around that the hike is quite easy so we were extremely relaxed about it. The start also did not indicate anything difficult about the hike. A few minutes into it and we began to realise that this was not going to be as easy as it was made out to be. There were steps, yes, but over massive boulders and these boulders were in very odd positions at various places.
One more problem was that we were carrying a heavy DSLR camera with a telephoto lens. This setup was extremely heavy and carrying this over treacherous boulders was not at all easy. At some places, we had to be on all fours to navigate the steep climb. Though it was early morning, and the sun was not at its peak, we still were sweating like anything.
After carrying on for a few minutes, we reached a dead end with a cave in front of us and nothing else. There was not a soul in sight to ask how to proceed. We drank some water and started thinking about what should be next. After staying around for a few minutes, we decided to head down and accept the fact that this was not to be.
4. Matanga hills Part 2 – Redux
As we were dejectedly heading down, a local carrying water in a jug miraculously appeared in front of us (for doing puja at the top) and asked us to follow him. This person was walking barefooted and we were amazed by the way he was climbing over the boulders, maybe a daily affair for him. We duly followed him the same way we came down and reached the same dead-end from where we returned earlier.
From there he took a left behind the bushes which we had overlooked earlier and we duly followed him. We thought the way so far was treacherous but had no idea of the way ahead. And O boy! We were soon walking on a slanting ledge with nothing to hold on to in case of a fall. This section was the scariest of them all. We started to think of our return as this would be the same route. Going uphill is always less challenging than going downhill. So that concern started at the back of our heads.
But anyway, we trudged along and soon reached the top of the hill. There is a small structure at the top of the hill, where there is a temple and presumably where the sage Matanga used to live and meditate.
5. Matanga hills – At the top of Hampi
There is a flight of stairs to climb over the structure and we used that to reach the top. The time was 6.45 AM. It did not take us much time to climb but the experience was something else. But then, when we looked at the 360-degree view that we got from the top, we forgot what we went through to reach there.
There are a lot of places that one can spot from the top. The closest one was the Achyutaraya temple at its base.
Virupaksha temple is another one which makes a great sighting from the top more so with a telephoto lens.
Remember the places which we visited behind the Vitthala temple, those are visible as well.
We also spotted the Anjanadri hills at a distance courtesy our telephoto lens.
We would have spent around 20-30 minutes at the top and now was the time for the descent. The thought was terrifying to walk over the open ledge with gravity pulling you down. There were a few people on the top and we enquired with everyone if there was another way. We got to know of another way which exits to the side of Achyutaraya temple but were told that it is a difficult way as well. We thought it could anyway be better than what we saw on our way up so decided to go there. Though the descent was over thick vegetation and boulders it was way better and less risky. It was around 7.30 AM that we reached the base safely.
6. Achyutaraya temple
How could we even think to miss this one? What a majestic piece of architecture this one was. One of the biggest and most amazing temples of Hampi is this one.
You can reach this temple from the way behind the Nandi statue as well. The temple within the double enclosure wall is known for its large dimensions and its massive bazaar in front known as Courtesan street. Though all of the temples are now in ruins one can just imagine and wonder about the magnificence of their times.
7. Other temples to see
Varaha temple: We exited the Achyutaraya temple and came next to the banks of the river Tungabhadra. The first temple we saw was the Varaha temple (dedicated to the Varaha avatar of Vishnu) which was in a bad condition.
Kodanda Rama temple: The next was the Kodanda Rama temple. As the name suggests, this is dedicated to Rama and is a live temple which means there is an idol inside and puja is performed. As we did not have a bath in the morning when we left, we did not go inside the temple and paid our respects from outside.
Yantrodharaka Anjaneya temple: Alongside, we saw a temple dedicated to Hanuman. According to the locals whom we met there, this is a very powerful temple, and one must be clean to even step inside. We paid our respects from outside and moved ahead.
8. Return to guest house
The early morning view along the banks of the river was really good. A few locals and some priests of these temples were having a bath in the river. There were also signs that Coracle boating happens at this spot as well.
We walked along the river and then reached the backside of Nandi after some time. From there it was a straightforward walk to our guest house.
We took some rest, showered and had breakfast at the rooftop restaurant one final time. The time was 10.30 AM. Though there were a lot of places remaining to be covered in Hampi itself but then our schedule was too tight to allow that.
With a heavy heart, we packed our bags, paid our hotel dues and left Hampi with a promise that we would return to explore the remaining places.
Well wait, we are not done yet 😊
9. Kadale Kalu Ganesha
Our heart was still in Hampi, and we decided to go to this one last place before exiting. This monolithic statue of Ganesha was almost double the size of the Sasive Kalu Ganesha we visited earlier. We took a wrong turn and ended up in some place which seemed like an ashram. There we met a lady who had come from Switzerland and guided us the right way. She had come to do boulder climbing in Hampi so that was a new piece of information we got. So, another thing to explore next time.
The word Kadale Kalu means gram seed in the Kannada language. The statue is 4.5 metres tall and looks amazing.
10. Bye Hampi!
The feeling that we got from visiting this place of Hampi is very difficult to put into words (though we have tried to). It is an emotion and experience that one can only get by visiting this place. At the end of it, we were having mixed feelings about it. Happy because we got to witness something we have not seen before, a full-fledged live city in ruins of what once was a great and thriving place. Sad, because seeing such a beautiful place and so many temples in ruins is not a very good sight but then that is the reality. It is indeed a privilege that so many monuments still exist, preserved or restored and we were still able to see them.
We bade goodbye to Hampi and proceeded towards our next destination.
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