Thaw Break as dawn breaks
4 Pulsars and an RTR
Frozen Riders awaiting tea
One for the Orkut Gals
Post Tea - a little thawed
Currrvvvvvvves and lovely tarmac between Hiriyur and Bellary, especially after Chellakere
The Bikemans Bike.
Bikeman checks mail
Lights, action, camera
Old Sherpa takes a break (only classic at the meet!)
Slopes, curves, yumminess ahead
Currrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvveeee
Brown-bred! We are all like that wonly
Photo-shooters
The shot
Protective gear!
Only time these bikes are in a straight line
One after the other
Vitthala Temple
Stone Temple. Us pilots
950mtrs long bazaar. This was the usual layout around Hampi - temple, street lined with shops, and a water tank. The original multiplexes!
All the kings horses
Long shot of the ruins
Ruin-Run?
It was breathtaking wherever you looked
Chariot. The wheel apparently rotated at one time. The polished edges bear testimony.
From just stone to sheer art. The variety, scale, styles were mind boggling.
Some left. Some gone. All amazing.
Carved out of a single stone!
...
Frieze!
Sundown made the temple look even prettier.
Every pillar was different.
Ruins have a purpose too
Squarer one
And magically, rose the moon
The pillars bathed in the light
Whist the orb shone carelessly above
As the bikes did below!
Strong, not silent
Old man Sherpa in the midst of a younger crowd
The Vitthala Temple Gopuram under Sodium Vapour
Next day early AM around Hampi
More Bazaar
pillar, pillar
Venkat exlploring and admiring
Common bath
Reflections
Reflections II
Reflections - I just couldn't have enough of this
Symbolism everywhere. Illiterate me.
The Jain Temple
Krishna Temple, Hampi
The Kadlekalu Ganesha. Huge monolith with amazingly correct proportions
The Elephant God in all his glory
Venkat for a reference point
The Royal mudra of Vijayanagara
Virupaksha Temple
A million prayers
The only place in Hampi with KS. They did borrow ideas from just about everywhere.
Bells. Can anyone read that ?
Story
Ask Venkat.
Swami Vidyaranya's palanquin
The Gopuram, stone, bricks, wood in different layers. 165ft tall
Puja stuff and bike rentals.
This resembles temples I've seen elsewhere. Shore Temple? Orissa ? Hampi is fascinating, so many styles, so many things to see.
Holy man
Venkat explores Hampi with the guide
The little fella...
...made the Ugra Narasimha angry?
In the distance
Huge monolithic Shivling
The sisters, resting
The Shiva Temple was discovered, excavated in 1984!
It was rebuilt pillar by pillar by the ASI.
Watchtower near the Queen's palace
Queen's palace - Slightly Northie/Islamic style. You see something from the whole country here!
Close up. No queen.
Watchtower.
Royal Pachyderms Abode. 11 of them. There were 3000 others for warfare across the river in the fort. Next time I go see that.
Tenali Rama apparently used to go up there to think up his stuff. Must've been pretty fit for a thinking wise man.
This was for another artistic dude - the artisitic types each got a mandapam up there to philosophize or dream or suchlike.
The intricate friezes on the watch-the-Dussera-platform
Court-no-room. The judge sat on top while the bitter debates went on down there. Hmmm, tennis!
Stone plates. Really! Eat, wash it out....next!
Water management. This was excavated in 84 too
Aqueduct! The water was sourced from a Kere at Kamalapur, 4 kms away.
No water rides tho. It'll be fascinating to study the entire city's water management...
Queen's bath - a whole separate monument for that! And my builder cribbed so much about installing a bathtub.
Queen's bath.
Something being restored, Hampi. There has to be more than what the royals needed - the common homes, drainage, admin blocks. This needs 2-3 days, at least!
