India – Crumbling Majestic Temples and Hearts of Gold

Forgive this long blog. Though I have traveled in India before it was an assault of sight, sound, smell and traffic. I find the religion and history fascinating and included lots of it -so feel free to skim or skip! We were also overwhelmed by the true hospitality and friendliness of all who crossed our path. Our arrival in Bangalore was a shock. A dirty un-air conditioned building with crowds that did not move. We were asked to line up and go through a metal detector but everyone streamed through together so we were unclear what was being detected. Lucky for us our luggage arrived quickly and we headed outside into the steamy throngs of people. We identified our Avis driver but then he sprinted off leaving us wondering we were supposed to chase him? About a half an hour later after being repeatedly accosted by other potential drivers he showed up in a car and delivered us safely to our hotel.

When we asked people what there was to see in Bangalore, they would say “Mysore” which is actually a city 3 hours away. So we took their advice and headed there our fist weekend. Our first stop was Chamundi Hill. Legend has it that that the demon Mahishasura, the king of the area that is currently Mysore, was killed by the Goddess Chamundi after a fierce battle. That’s how the hills got their name and a temple of the Goddess. Unbeknownst to us a festival was in full swing. We never got a clear explanation of what the festival was for but we certainly added to the entertainment. There were a number of villagers who had apparently never seen a Caucasian before and if we slowed to look at something we were instantly surrounded and pressed in by the crowd. Many children came up to ask us: “Name?” “From?”

After being the center of attention we headed to the Maharajah’s Palace in the center of town. The Kingdom of Mysore was ruled by the Wodeyar dynasty from 1399 until the independence of India in 1947 and the subsequent dissolution of monarchy by the Indian constitution. The current palace in Mysore was designed in 1912 by a British architect, Henry Irwin. He combined different styles of architecture commonly described as Indo-Saracenic, and blends together Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic. It is truly magnificent though in some state of disrepair. We hired a guide who showed us around and was particularly fond of the pictures that when you walked by the eyes would follow you. We had lunch at the Lalitha Mahal which is a palace converted into a hotel. Then to the bustling colorful market where we bought fragrances, flowers and paints. The jasmine was heavenly!

The next day we proceeded to what are known as the Jewel Boxes of Hoysala architecture and Unesco World Heritage sites: Belur and Halebid. The driver invited us to breakfast with his family on the way – an interesting experience (which we were embarrassed to photograph!) and we toured the local damn, saw the locals and were even accosted by a group celebrating a Hindu festival and demanding money.

Halebid was our first planned stop of the day. The name literally means old or ruined city. Halebid was the 12th-century capital of the Hoysalas. The Hoysaleswara temple was built during this time the Hoysala ruler. It was sacked by the armies of Malik Kafur in the early 14th century, and then fell into a state of disrepair and neglect. It is made largely from soapstone so the carvings are intense. Outside the temple the carvings are done in panels: elephants on the bottom to show strength, horses next to show speed etc. The work was amazingly intricate and Halebid has the second largest Nandi(a bull that Shiva rides) in India.

Belur was next and were again surprised with another festival. Belur was the early capital of the Hoysala Empire. The main attraction is the Chennakesava Temple (dedicated to Lord Chennakeshava, meaning handsome Vishnu) as the centre piece, surrounded by the Kappe Chennigraya temple built by Shantaladevi, queen of king Vishnuvardhana. It was built by king Vishnuvardhana in commemoration of his victory over the Cholas at Talakad in 1117 CE. Legend has it that it took 103 years to complete and Vishnuvardhana's grandson Veera Ballala II completed the task. The facade of the temple is filled with intricate sculptures and friezes with no portion left blank. The intricate workmanship includes elephants, lions, horses, episodes from the Indian mythological epics, and sensuous dancers (Shilabalikas). Inside the temple are a number of ornate pillars. Darpana Sundari ( Lady with the mirror ) carved on walls of Belur Temple is one of major attraction in complex.

Our next stop was Shravanabelagola (say that 3X fast!) another Unesco World Heritage site. It is one of the most important Jain pilgrim centers. The Vindhyagiri hill is home to a thousand-year-old gigantic 17.38 meter high monolithic stone statue of the Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali, considered to be the world's largest, built by Chamundaraya, a general of King Gangaraya. It was built in 981 and symbolizes worldly renunciation. Every 12 years, thousands of naked male devotees congregate here to perform the Mahamastakabhisheka, a spectacular ceremony in which the thousand-year-old statue is anointed with milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold coins. The next Mahamastakabhisheka will be held in 2018 A.D. While we were there, there was a man naked meditating in front of the statute. We finally headed home to Bangalore and collapsed after a very full weekend.

After only 3 days of work and the worst traffic I have experienced in the world to date (Thursday was a holiday- state forming day), we took the overnight train to Hampi…. or so we thought. Our @#**! travel agent in his mind blowing incompetence actually booked us on a train to Hoobli which is a 4 hour drive away from Hampi. We were awakened at 6:45 am by people who thought were we in their seats (we actually were) and after talking to the conductor realized we had missed our stop (mainly because the @#**! travel agent never told us it wasn’t Hampi!) So we got off at the next stop and a refreshingly friendly Chief Engineer, Matesh, of Murhad took us home, gave us coffee and breakfast, called our travel agent to yell at him and took David back to the train station to fix our tickets on the way home. The couple was so friendly – his wife was from near Hampi and they wanted to make sure we got as much time to see the incredible sites as possible. So we got a driver and headed on the 4 hour journey we hadn’t planned. After much jostling and bumping over poor roads through spectacular rice and banana fields, we got to our “resort” Hampi Boulders. It was awesome. Hampi itself is set among boulders. There is a legend that the Monkey King after finding Rama’s wife Sita who was kidnapped by a demon in Sri Lanka, brought all these boulders to Hampi to build a bridge to Sri Lanka so all the monkeys could go see it. The extras were just left here. We had a little hut next to a broad river with all sorts of amazing birds and sounds. The stars at night were fabulous. There was definitely something special, mystical, serene, spiritual…. words don’t really describe what we felt in this area. The natural beauty with ruins of amazing times with locals brimming with curiosity and friendliness… go if you can!

Since we were set back ½ a day and Hampi was across the river we toured our side of the river first. The main attraction was the Monkey Temple – surprisingly - replete with monkeys! Our driver took us to a number of other temples, we saw women washing clothes by the river – but our favorite was the last of the day where we met a Sai Baba devotee. He first showed us his meditation hut and then a gorgeous sunset. He told David he left being an engineer because of “mind cracks” –but another amazingly friendly guy!

The next morning we headed off across the river finally to see Hampi. Hampi is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara empire [some equate it to the Roman empire]. Hampi is identified with the mythological Kishkindha, the Vanara (monkey) kingdom which finds mention in the Ramayana. Hampi was chosen because of its strategic location, bounded by the torrential Tungabhadra river on one side and surrounded by defensible hills on the other three sides. Hampi formed one of the cores of the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. The King was tolerant and though Hindu allowed all types of architecture and built Muslim Mosques. It was destroyed by Moslem emperors who left only the Muslim structures in tact. Because Muslims oppose idol worship and because treasures are usually housed under Hindu statutes, the conquerors defaced all Hindu statutes. Once a Hindu statute is defaced, Hindus will no longer worship it – so it is now know as "The City of Ruins". The Vijayanagara ruins are listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We went first to the Ganesha temple and Hemakuta Hill which overlooked the working Virupaksha Temple the main center of pilgrimage at Hampi and considered the most sacred over the centuries. The temple is dedicated to Shiva. We got blessed by the resident elephant! After visiting other nearby temples (including the Krishna Temple built to commemorate a victory complete with bazaar -all temples had bazaars in front of them) we ran into some magicians that put on a show.

After a relaxing lunch by the river, we headed back out into the hot hot sun! Our first stop was the underground temple, so named because it was covered with mud. Next came the Zenana enclosure where some say the royal women lived, while others disagree since the elephant stables were close by and would smell too much. The Lotus Mahal is the highlight which had a system to pump water through the stone to create air conditioning.

Next on the tour was the Hazara Rama temple dedicated to Rama which has fabulous carvings depicting the entire Ramayana epic. An impressive spread of land was the Royal Grounds and water tanks. Amazing in size and scope, they had aqueducts and a secret room the king could hide from all –David’s favorite. All Queens must have their own bath –and this was over the top! They say they filled this everyday for her bath – that’s a lot of water!

Our final stop was the Vitthala temple which supposedly makes music from the stone pillars. Unfortunately many tourists have damaged the pillars by trying to recreate the sound with metal rather than wood implements. This complex is also home to the renown stone chariot. We headed back to the train and met some really inquisitive kids at the train station that wanted to know all about Hong Kong.

We woke up in Bangalore and had the day before catching the red eye home. We quickly learned why people answered “Mysore” when asked what to do in Bangalore. We made a valiant effort visiting the Bull Temple, the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens and the Maharajah’s palace which was in a sad state of decline and left us so nonplussed we failed to take any photos! We did chuckle at this sign for personality improvement and had fun shopping with a co-worker and having dinner with his family! Then home sweet home through Singapore – we’re here till Hanoi in December with Marija and Louise!