The underground Shiva temple is originally known as Prasanna Virupaksha temple. It is called underground temple because it is now located few meters below the ground level. It is located near the Nobleman’s quarter after Chandikeswara temple. We visited there in the afternoon and it was sunny day. However, the inner shrine is very dark….

After Lakshmi Narasima temple, further on the way comes Chandikeswara temple. This temple is most likely dated to 16th century AD. The east facing temple has a sanctum vestibule, a mahamantapa with entrances on north, south and east. Most of the pillars in this temple has Vaishnava representations like Hanuman, Garuda, balakrishna, Kamdhenu, Srinivasa etc….

Besides Badavilinga temple is situated Lakshmi Narasima temple in Hampi. This is the largest statue in Hampi standing at 6.7 meters. Lakshmi Narasima is one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. This form is also known as ugra Narasima or angered Narasima. He is seated on the giant coils of Adisesha, the scared guardian snake…

Badavilinga Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Here Shiva is in the form of a linga. It is a large 3 meters high monolith carved out of a single rock stone. The pedestal of the Shiva Linga always remains submerged in water. Legend has it, that Badavilinga temple was commissioned by a power women. The…

After Sasivekalu Ganesha Mandapa we went to Krishna temple. It is located little further down the road. Krishna temple complex was built by Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya in 1513 after his victorious Orissa campaign. The deity here was infant avatar of Lord Krishna (Balakrishna) which was brought from Udaygiri (Orissa) subsequently. Krishna temple in Hampi was…

From Hemakuta hill, we went to Sasivekalu (mustered seed) Ganesha, situated on the southeastern slopes of Hemakuta hillock. This 4 armed monolithic Ganesha statue is 2.4 meters high and is enclosed in a open pillared pavilion. The statue seated in half lotus posture bears a tusk, goad, noose and bowl of sweets in its four…

Virupaksha temple as seen from Hemakuta temple Hemakuta hill is located besides the grand Virupaksha temple in Hampi. We need to take the left lane in front of Virupaksha temple to hike to the top of Hemkuta hill. This completely stone rock has a number of small temples scattered all over the hill. Achuta Raya…

Virupaksha Temple is the center of religious and tourism activity in Hampi. It is said that Virupaksha temple was erected as a small shrine in 7th century and since then people are worshiping here uninterruptedly. It is located little away from Hampi bus stand and on the southern bank of Tungabhadra river. If you take…