Hampi

When you write about Hampi, cliches threaten to swamp you. It is so very splendid! Stories come rushing at you from everywhere, pleading to be written. Photographs cry aloud to be published. What do you include, and what do you leave out? There are so many monuments, temples, buildings, bazaars, all in granite, all testimony to a past civilisation.

Finally, I've chosen two photos to start with: both from the Vithala temple.
The first photo is of an ornate Kalyana Mantapa, with pillars carved out of single stones. But this itself, although impressive, didn't amaze me as a much smaller panel at the base of the Mantapa.

It's a simple panel, showing a man leading two horses.

The dress and the beard suggest that the man is not a local. This, you see, is a Persian dealer of horses - bringing the finest Arabian horseflesh to Hampi's markets!

Vijayanagara had a thriving trade with Persia. Hampi was famous for its bazaar where the Persians brought horses to be traded. Abdur Razak, a Persian trader who visited Hampi in 1443 says "The city of Bijanagar is such that eye has not seen not ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. The bazaars are very broad and long...sweet-scented flowers are always available fresh in that city...The jewellers sell their rubies and pearls and diamonds openly in the bazaar."

- Deepa

P.S. The guide told me that if an Arab horse died in transit while being brought to Hampi, the trader would cut off the tail and bring it to the king as proof, and the king would make full payment for the horse.