Hampi - ruins of the Vijayanagar dynasty (06)

The Krishna temple is another architectural marvel of Hampi. In 1513 AD, Krishnadeva Raya conquered the Udayagiri fort, which was under the control of King Gajapati Prataaparudra of Orissa, after a long siege lasting a year and a half. Thereafter, Krishnadeva Raya also invaded Cuttack, the capital of Gajapatis, & Gajapati Prataaparudra was forced to make peace with Vijayanagar. The Gajapati gave his daughter Tukkadevi, also called Jaganmohini, in marriage to Krishnadeva Raya, thus sealing friendship between the two kingdoms. In return, Krishnadeva Raya returned all the territory north of river Krishna, to Prataaparudra. On his way back from the successful conquest of Orissa, Krishnadeva Raya had stopped at a place, where he is said to have chanced upon a beautiful idol of Lord Krishna. This idol he brought to Hampi, had a beautiful temple built, & installed the deity there. 

As we enter the temple complex, right at the entrance on the left we can see the royal insignia of Vijayanagar dynasty. Here, we notice the boar (one of the avataaras of Lord Vishnu), which signifies that the Vijayanagar kings were devotees of Vishnu. We can also see the sun & moon, which signifies that the kingdom shall last till the sun & moon. There is also a sword, which signifies self defence. Summing it up, the royal insignia conveys the message that the Vijayanagar kings were devotees of Vishnu & envisioned of a lasting kingdom, to achieve which they'd defend the kingdom against enemies and other external threats.

This is the main sanctum sanctorum of Krishna. The deity no longer exists because it was destroyed during the siege. 

These are the resting places for devotees. 

Outside view (from within the temple complex) of the main sanctum sanctorum.

View of the temple complex...

The gopuram of the main entrance is built of brick and mortar, like most of the other temples.

Intricate architecture on the gopuram of the main entrance to the temple.

An empty sanctum sanctorum of the temple of the goddess (perhaps Lakshmi or Andal) in the premises of Krishna temple.

Opposite the temple, across the road passing by is the Krishna bazaar where devotees visiting the temple shopped around. At the entrance to the bazaar is placed a stone hundi (offering box) in which the devotees used to make offering which was then used for various activities such as feeding the devotees, festivities, etc.

The Prasanna Virupaksha temple is another beautiful Shiva temple not to be missed. Our guide could not take us to this temple on day 1 because we were severely running against time & we still had a lot of important places to see. However, we returned back on day 3 & covered these places...Since the temple is located below the ground level, this is also called "underground Shiva temple". The multi pillared temple from within...    

This is the entrance to the temple. The deity, Shiva Linga, no more exists in this temple. It is said that water from somewhere beneath the ground (believed to be Ganga) used to fall on the Shiva Linga as if the abhishekam (bathng the deity) was carried out eternally. Such temples existed aplenty in olden days. Even to this day, there is a temple in Malleshwaram area of Bangalore, where water falls on the Shiva Linga continuously & is in a state of eternal abhishekam being carried out.

The lonely Nandi without the master appears to be brooding...

Ganesha at the entrance to the temple.