Trip to Anegundi, Karnataka

Anegundi is a small village in the Gangavathi taluk of Koppal district of Karnataka. Anegundi was the earlier capital of the Vijaynagar empire when it was still in nascent stage. It is located around 5 km from Hampi on the other side of Tungabhadra river. Indian mythology says this is the monkey kingdom of Kishkinda from Ramayana. Hanuman (monkey god) is said to be born here at Anjanadri hill. Anegundi is also said to be the maternal home of Bhoodevi (mother Earth). It is also believed to have the oldest plateau on earth over 3000 years old.

How to reach there: 1. If you staying at Hospet, you can either take a bus to Kamalapur and then an auto the ghat where we need to cross river Tungabhadra on a boat. It cost Rs 2 per person. Be careful as the boat handlers might try to full you and demand more. The ghat is little away from the battery car stand for Vittala temple. From here you will have to walk around 1 km to reach the ferry.

2. If you are in Hampi, walk to Vittala temple through the bank of river Tungabhadra. Then walk straight further to the battery car stand and take left for ferry ghat at river Tungabhadra.

I visited there in the month of January when water level was low in river Tungabhadra. I saw one broken bridge here. That’s why boat is like essential service here. The boat are filled to the core with just not only people but also cycles and motorcycles. Not sure what stops the government from building a bridge here.

Once we reached the shore of Anegundi, we walked little further and reached a circle. During day it was pretty hot, particularly the sun was scorching. We tried to negotiate with few autos for a day trip to show us everything in Anegundi. But they quoted exorbitant. So we hesitated. On the right hand side we saw direction for Huchchaiappana Mutt. As it was near we decided to walk. While we were reviewing Huchchaiappana Mutt the auto fellows were doing sortie around it. Then we started walking again through the narrow country road. On the way we were photographing a parrot sitting on the electricity wire, when one auto fellow came again and offered to take us around. Then we negotiated the tour for Rs 350.

Then we drove to the center of Anegundi where we saw the palace Gagan Mahal. On the other side of the road was Ranganathaswamy temple. We went further inside to see Pampa Sarovor (lake). Out last destination was Durga temple located on top of a hill. Like Hampi, Anegundi is also fortified and there are many entrances like Anegundi North Main Entrance Gate, Chintamani Main Entrance Gate
and Anegundi South Side Entrance Gate.

There are some other places which I was not able to visit like Nava Brindavana, Sri Krishnadevaraya samadhi (burial), Chintamani Lord Shiva Temple, Anjanadri hill etc.

Anegundi is typically an one day tour. There are not many lodging options there. However, if you would like to stay, then you should check the guestrooms of Kishkinda Trust.