The absence of ancient Hindu structures in Kashi is something I have always lamented about. The shrines are certainly ancient, and that is something that has always attracted me to the city. However, I miss the beauty of the ancient structures that we see at other sites. This feeling is intensified when I see marble and concrete and tiles in temples that once would have been beautifully adorned with evocative sculptures, and worn by the passage of time, touched by the hands of seekers who came before. This time , this desire to see some remnants of an ancient Hindu structure in Kashi came true when I managed to visit the Kardameshwar Temple. The Kardameshwar temple is not one of the main temples in the city. It is part of the temples on the Pancha Kroshi yatra, a pilgrimage which takes one on a circumambulatory tour of the whole city. The temple is located on the outskirts of the city, on the western bank of a tank called the Kardama Kund. The Kardameshwar temple is one of the...
The Krishna temple at Hampi was built by Krishnadevaraya to commemorate the success of his Orissa campaign. It is believed that he brought back with him, an idol of Bala Krishna – Krishna, the child – which was enshrined in this temple.
The figure of Krishna depicted at the top of the gopuram (or rather, what is left of it), is probably what the Krishna idol looked like…..
Or maybe he was like this depiction on the pillar … no one knows for sure now!
The gopuram is covered with detailed stucco figures of warriors, probably depicting the conquest of Orissa.
Here is the main shrine….
With tales of Lord Vishnu and his devotees etched on the walls and pillars…
The main sanctum is nothing more than a dark chamber… filled with bats and smelling of bat dung… I didn’t even try to venture inside, but Samhith did, with a couple of others from our group!
Each pillar is beautifully decorated....
so are the ceilings…
so are the ceilings…
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| note the dancing girls holding hands! |
This is one empty shrine left outside… which once housed one of the doorkeepers of Lord Vishnu….
The doorways have interesting carvings… from Ganesha to the other deities..
And the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu…
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| see the detail at the base.... |
The beam on top shows the Moon (shown with the rabbit in it) being attacked by the snake-like demons Rahu and Ketu…
Outside the temple is a huge Hundi – a collection box – which is almost as tall as me. I had to stand on the base to get a pic of the hole through which the coins were put in!
Opposite the temple is a clearing – this was once a huge bazaar. Today, there is just a plain stretch of land, with a pathway marking the edge…
In the recent past, this was once a field, most probably a banana plantation. As I wandered along the stone paved area, I wondered about right and wrong – whether we were justified in evacuating villagers whose families had tended the land for hundreds of years, just because underneath it was a civilization which existed before they arrived!
These covered pathways have withstood the wear and tear of the years……
While this one has been cleaned and cleared, for tourists like us to walk on, there are more like this all over the place… like this one, for instance, which is now a car park……
Samhith was fascinated, and when we spoke about how difficult it would have been to build, without machines, he tried to lift one of the small stones lying about…. Needless to say, he was convinced!
Adjacent to this clearing is this…..
It was probably the place the merchants had their apartments….. More than anything, it was such things that brought the place alive in my eyes….
And this was the tank….. Used to supply water to the people using the bazaar…
There is a water channel bringing water from the main aqueduct….
The attention paid to detail is amazing! Even something as simple as a pillar holding up a mandap or pavilion near the tank is decorated, and aptly, with leaves and flowers.
While another pavilion on the road nearby has decorative patterns or images of people!
It is this which makes Hampi such an interesting place to be in, and it would take days to just wander around, seeing such small things which made the ancient city so admired and famous!
Very informative with some very nice photos, but with one factual error. Speaking about the figure of Balakrishna that must have been inside the Krishna temple, it is said:
ReplyDeleteThe figure of Krishna depicted at the top of the gopuram (or rather, what is left of it), is probably what the Krishna idol looked like….. Or maybe he was like this depiction on the pillar … no one knows for sure now!
But in fact we know exactly what the Balakrishna statue looked like, because the statue was found in the ruins of the temple. It was then taken to Chennai, where it now resides in the Chennai Museum. See this article from The Hindu to learn more:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/blogs/blog-datum-line/article4177684.ece
--Pankaj Tandon
Thank you so much, Mr Tandon, for bringing this to my notice. I had no idea of this, and in fact, hadnt heard of this even from the guides at Hampi. I shall def add it to the article.
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