India Series: Hampi - Softcover

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George Michell trained as an architect in Melbourne, and then obtained a PhD in Indian Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, with a dissertation on Early Chalukya temples. Since then he has undertaken numerous documentation and research projects, most recently with John M. Fritz at Hampi. Surendra Kumar studied information technology in Bengaluru, and now works part-time as a photographer, specializing in panoramic topographic views. His work has been spectacularly showcased in Discovering the Deccan (Pictor, Mumbai)

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From Chapter 1: Commonly known as Hampi, the site of the imperial city of Vijayanagara is located on the Tungabhadra river in central Karnataka, near the border with Andhra Pradesh. Vijayanagara's fame derives from its role as capital of South India's largest, wealthiest and most powerful kingdom; hence its name, 'City of Victory'. Yet Hampi is not only of interest for its historical prestige and magnificent ruins; its remarkable landscape, religious associations and ongoing archaeological investigations make it an outstanding destination of international significance.

ARCHITECTURE & ART

As the seat of imperial power, Vijayanagara was also a place of outstanding importance for architecture and the arts. The kings and their families, as well as their commanders and officers, not only erected buildings that bore their names, but also commissioned works of art, though none of these have survived the destruction of 1565. Since religious architecture was built of solid granite blocks laid without any mortar, it has survived to give a picture of the development of temple styles over a period of more than 200 years. The earliest Vijayanagara temples are the 14th-century shrines on Hemakuta hill. These elegant structures are built in a typical local idiom, comprising entrance porches with balcony seating, halls or mandapas with simple columns and double brackets, and shrines topped with pyramidal towers, all executed in granite. Temple architecture in the 15th century was expanded and elaborated, partly under the influence of the Tamil country incorporated into the Vijayanagara empire. The Hazara Rama temple in the middle of the royal centre is the finest example of this Tamil inspired idiom, as is evident from the finely worked decoration of its basement mouldings and plastered walls. The brick and plaster tower over the sanctuary that rises in a succession of diminishing storeys also follows the Tamil tradition. The sanctuary is approached through a spacious mandapa with entrance porches on three sides.

The climax of temple architecture at Vijayanagara occurred under the Tuluvas, beginning with Krishnadevaraya who added a magnificent mandapa to the Virupaksha temple complex at Hampi on the occasion of his coronation. He also built a multi-storeyed towered gateway, or gopura (replaced in later times), to serve as a monumental entrance to the newly renovated temple. Ultimately of Tamil origin, such spacious mandapas and lofty gopuras became hallmarks of the mature Vijayanagara style, to be repeated in all the later monuments of any magnitude at the capital, and reaching its artistic high point in the Vitthala temple complex. Like the other major complexes, the Vitthala is laid out in a linear sequence of manadapas leading to the shrine of the divinity surrounded by a narrow unlit passageway. Associated goddesses and related deities are accommodated in smaller shrines standing freely within the walled compound of the temple.

These architectural developments were accompanied by vibrant sculptural tradition, best seen in the mythological figures and narratives and the accessory maidens and guardians carved in relief onto granite columns, walls and ceilings. Highlights of Vijayanagara's sculptures include the reliefs on the Hazara Rama temple, where two entire cycles of Ramayana episodes are portrayed in stone, each episode of the story forming the subject of a separate composition. The royal reliefs on the outer compound walls of the same monument, portraying animals, soldiers and courtly women, are unique in South Indian art, as are the similarly royal subjects covering the granite sides of the nearby Mahanavami platform. Sculpture at Vijayanagara is also found on boulders scattered all over the site, either as relief compositions, such as Ramayana scenes or figures of Virabhadra and Hanuman as Anjaneya, or as gigantic three-dimensional monoliths of Ganesha or Narasimha. The technical virtuosity in the handling of the granite medium on this monumental scale is typical of Vijayanagara art.

Plaster sculptures also adorned the city's temples, as can be seen on sanctuary towers and gopuras where gods and goddesses are often flanked by courtly devotees. Similar plaster figures adorned the royal residences, but these are too fragmentary to be identified. Bronze icons must have been installed in temple sanctuaries, but not one example of the period survives at the site. (The brass images currently worshipped in the Virupaksha temple complex at Hampi are modern creations.)

Only the faintest indications of the Vijayanagara period painting are seen in the temples, and no details can be made out, though surely they would have portrayed mythological topics. (The well-preserved paintings on the ceiling of Krishnadevaraya's mandapa in the Virupaksha temple date only from the 19th-century renovation.) Murals may also have graced the halls of the royal palaces, but these have completely vanished, together with the dyed and printed cottons, woven velvets and embroidered cloths, as well as the ivory thrones and beds, and gilded metallic thresholds, door frames and roof pinnacles.

No account of the architecture of Vijayanagara would be complete without taking note of structures within the royal centre, such as the Lotus Mahal and elephant stables, built in a distinctly Islamic manner. Inspired by contemporary architecture of the neighbouring Bahmani kingdom, these and other buildings in similar style have Islamic pointed arches, vaults and domes, and are decorated with cut plasterwork in stylized floral forms. This creative interaction with the Deccan artistic tradition should be considered as a manifestation of the cosmopolitan spirit of Vijayanagara courtly culture.