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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
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Hampi Part 5 - The Hampi Bazaar


Hampi was well known for its bazaars in the days gone by, when merchants from all over the world collected here to show off their wares. From gold and diamonds to horses and cows, the markets boasted of a variety which impressed even visitors from foreign shores! These marketplaces weren’t like our roadside shops, but well planned and well laid out areas, paved with stones, with residences for the merchants as well stables for their mounts! Nothing much remains of these bazaars except the  pathways and the water tanks which mark their boundaries. Today, the name ‘Hampi Bazaar’ signifies a row of shops outside the Virupaksha temple, selling the sort of stuff which appeals to tourists…..

Like these dolls made of clay…..


Musical instruments….


Figures of the Gods and replicas of the Hampi ruins made in stone…





A closer look….


We loved this autorickshaw….


And especially this one of Krishna stealing milk from a cow….


There were a few useful stone products…


Garlands of beads….. and stones of course…


But did we buy any? No! they were terribly expensive….. and targeted at the foreign tourists. The shopkeepers didn’t even pay us Indians much attention, because they knew we wouldn’t shell out so much for these things! And when I asked one of them if she or her family had made these, she stared at me as if I was mad, and replied, “They come from a factory somewhere! Nobody here makes these things anymore!” 

This post is part of the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa Travel Carnival - The Marketplace - hosted by Kiran Keswani of Indian Bazaars.

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Location: Hampi, Karnataka, India

Comments

  1. suma bJanuary 19, 2012 at 2:01 PM

    Hey nice write up. We have missed many place in Hampi & Anegundi coz of Lack of time. Felt good to read about them through ur blogs... My  Hampi Blog...
    http://relivingmyfavouritemoments.blogspot.com/2012/01/hampi-part-1-hemakuta-hillshampi-bazzar.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 29, 2012 at 12:40 PM

    Actuall al vil post the monumnts of hampi. But u posted the market n how d ppl wil be.. Ya i really liked ur blog.

    Sir/Madam, me also created first weblog.
    so follow this link :
    http://basavaraj16291.blogspot.com

    here you can see the most beautiful snap from World Heritage Site Hampi. So please visit to my Blog and Add your Expression through your Valuable COMMENTS.
    Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 31, 2018 at 11:33 AM

    The handicrafts looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete

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