Karnataka > Bellary > Virupaksha Temple
The Virupaksha or the Pampapathi temple is the main centre of pilgrimage at Hampi. It is fully intact, and it incorporates some earlier structures. This temple has three towers, the eastern tower rises to a height of 160 feet and is nine tiered. It dates back to the first half of the fifteenth century and was renovated in the sixteenth century by Krishnadevaraya. This tower has been built such that an inverted shadow of this huge tower falls on the western wall of the temple through a small hole behind the sanctum. The northern gopuram has five storeys, and the inner eastern gopuram is endowed with three storeys. The presiding deity here is Virupaksheshwara or Pampapathi. His consort Pampa, is believed to be the daughter of Brahma. There is an ornate shrine to Bhuvaneswari. There is a shrine to Vidyaranya, the spiritual founder of Vijayanagar in this temple. The inner prakaram consists of shrines and pillars dating back to the 12th century. Krishnadevaraya also built a mandapam in front of the sanctum, and embellished it with Vijayanagar style bas-reliefs and murals. Several of Shiva`s manifestations, and the ten incarnations of Vishnu are portrayed here, as is the classic scene from Mahabharata depicting Arjuna`s shooting the fish device in order to secure Draupadi`s hand in marriage. There is also a mural depicting Vidyaranya the spiritual founder of Vijayanagar in procession. In the vicinity of the Virupaksha temple are several dilapidated mandapams. In front of the temple was once an ancient shopping center lined with mandapams, the ruins of which stand today. The main temple is east facing and has two large courtyards, one leading to the other. You directly enter into the first courtyard through the tower mentioned above. This courtyard mainly houses a pillared hall called 100-column hall at the far left corner, Kalyanamantapa at the far right corner, administrative offices, the ticket counter, a police outpost and even an old well. A kitchen complex projects out of the compound overlapping the two courts at the south wall. A narrow passage on the wall of the 100 pillared hall gives access to the kitchen. A water channel system connected to the nearby river is built into the floor of the kitchen complex. You can see the remains of its feeding channels outside the southwest corner of the temple corner.
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