A section from the journey
Krishnadevaraya and the Wonder of Hampi
Vijayanagara reached its golden age under the king Krishnadevaraya, who ruled from 1509 to 1529. He was a warrior, a poet, and a great patron of temples and learning. His capital, which we now call Hampi, dazzled the visitors who came from far away. One Portuguese traveller, Domingo Paes, wrote that the city was as large as Rome. We still have his words today.
Now let us do what travellers once crossed oceans to do. Let us walk into the golden city itself, in the years of its greatest glory.
Vijayanagara reached its height under a king whose name is worth remembering: . He ruled from 1509 to 1529, and he was a rare kind of ruler. He won great battles. He governed wisely. And he loved learning so much that he was himself a poet, writing an epic in the Telugu tongue.
He gathered poets and scholars at his court, in Telugu and Kannada, in Sanskrit and Tamil. He gave gifts to temples across his realm. Under his hand, the capital became one of the true wonders of its age. Today we walk among its ruins and call the place .
Picture it as it was. At its heart stood the temple of Virupaksha, sacred to Shiva, its gateway tower rising tall above the city. To this day worship has never ceased there. Nearby rose the temple of Vittala, a form of Vishnu, holding two marvels of the stone-carver's art.
The first marvel is a chariot carved from granite, so finely made that it seems ready to roll, though its great stone wheels have not turned in five hundred years. The second is a hall of slender pillars that ring with musical tones when they are gently struck — a temple that can sing. Travellers stood before these and could hardly believe their eyes.
And the city was not only temples. There were long bazaars where merchants sold horses and pearls and fine cloth from across the seas. There were palaces and pleasure-gardens, and great stone tanks that carried water to the fields. It was a place of worship, of trade, and of daily life, all woven together.
How do we know all this? Because people came from far away and wrote it down. Envoys from Persia, a merchant from Italy, and travellers from Portugal all visited and left accounts. One of them was a Portuguese man named , who stood in the city around 1520 and tried to set down its size for readers back home.
“The size of this city I do not write here, because it cannot all be seen from any one spot, but I climbed a hill whence I could see a great part of it; I could not see it all because it lies between several ranges of hills. What I saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight.”
As large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight. Hold that picture in your mind — a Hindu capital at its height, busy and bright and full of song. It is proof, written by a stranger's hand, of how far the south had risen. We will need that picture for what comes next.
A visitor from far away, with no reason to flatter, looked at this city and reached for the grandest thing he knew to compare it to. Sit a moment with the wonder in his words. When you have seen something truly beautiful, how have you tried to carry it home for others who were not there?
Let us now walk into the golden city itself. Vijayanagara reached its height under a remarkable king, Krishnadevaraya, who ruled from 1509 to 1529. He was many things at once: a victorious general, a wise ruler, a poet who wrote his own epic in Telugu, and a generous patron of temples and of learning in many tongues. Under him the capital became one of the wonders of its world. Today we call its ruins Hampi. There stood the living temple of Virupaksha, with its soaring gateway tower; and the temple of Vittala, with its famous stone chariot and pillars that ring like bells when struck. There were broad bazaars where horses, gems, and cloth were traded, and great tanks that watered the dry land. We are not guessing at its splendour. Travellers came from Persia, Italy, and Portugal and wrote down what they saw. The Portuguese visitor Domingo Paes, who stood in the city around 1520, said plainly that it was as large as Rome — and his words, written long ago, survive for us to read.
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