River Side Sculptures along Tungabhadra at Chakratirtha, Hampi

This article is about the beautiful river side sculptures in Hampi hidden from the general tourists that can be discovered with just a small detour from the Chakratirtha.

River side Sculptures, Hampi – Shivalinga carvings on Chakratirtha

While coming to Hampi, we shared our bogie with a foreign couple in the train. I was reading the book by ASI on Hampi and the lady borrowed the book from me. In the book, the picture she liked the most, among so many others, was of a beautiful etching with Shivalinga in the middle. I guess, her liking for the picture influenced me to look at that carving differently too. This beautiful carving is on the banks of the Chakratirtha.

Apart from this, from the Chakratirtha, I notice Nandi on a rock ,submerged in water, and carving of Lord Shiva at one of the boulders at the shore; this statue carved on a boulder is simply lying down.

Walk along the river side to visit Devi Temple, Hampi

Coming back to the trip, we are happy, and feel quite relax after the coracle ride in the tranquil waters of the Tungabhadra. This relaxing ride has filled the kids with the desire and energy to explore more.

They propose to walk over the boulder in the direction where we saw the Devi temple at the time of coracle ride. I see this as an opportunity to see the temple from inside and we all agree to trek towards that side; unaware that we might stumble upon something more interesting, and worthwhile among these boulders.

Discovering Cairns

At the onset of this trek we notice many stacking stones or cairns. It is prevalent across cultures and nations to create such stacks for making wishes or a gesture for wising good fortune to be bestowed on the stacker and his family.

Each stone in such stacks represents a wish or possibly the family members for whom the good wishes are desired. It is possible that this tradition or practice is driven by the Buddhist practice of making makeshift stupas or pagodas, as making stupas is considered of high merit.

Boulder hopping in Hampi

After crossing our way from a small patch of the greenery, where a goatherd is with his goats, we reach the boulder-infested river bank of Tungabhadra. These are massive boulders and we make our way along them carefully hopping and jumping from one to another.

Voila! On the way we see many marvelous etchings that most of the tourists miss as they are unaware of them. I can say so with high confidence as on this trail there is no-one else but us.

River Side Sculptures, Hampi – Etchings of Narasimha and Hiranyakashyap

The first discovery is a series of etchings on the face of a hill covered with a natural rock-hood. It took great efforts from us to reach the top. These are etchings of episodes from the story of Narasimha and Hiranyakashyap.

I have seen many such etchings of Narasimha on the top or secluded places. I wonder is it because Narasimha was also considered a guardian deity like Veerbhadra and Hanuman. There are flood-lights here; probably these etchings are illuminated during some festival time.

Who Chiseled them and why away from human life?

Such carvings always makes me curious. Who chiseled them here, away from human life, and why?

Were these carvings done by the artists in their free-time. Were they commissioned by someone to carve here? Or were they some cast-off artists who wanted to show their talent and prove themselves. Or, may be this was also well within the parameter of human activity when Hampi was a buzzing capital and the abundance of raw material prompted artists to continue their learning.

The boulder size is an obstacle for me to climb up close to these carvings, a realization of my increased weight and decreased agility. Kids are quickly among these beautiful etchings.

River Side Sculptures, Hampi – understanding the sculptures and hand gestures

In the first picture of this set, we see two panels of carvings; Now let us talk about the third panel of carvings which is in the picture below (and just adjacent to the first two panels).

The Narasimha-Avtar idols are easy to discern, but whom the other two carvings represents; of course Lord Vishnu as they are carved holding Shankha (Conch) and padma (lotus), a clear indication of these being Lord Vishnu’s carving.

The three figurines from the left have their hands drawn in Varadamudra. In this hand gesture, the hand (usually left), is held out with palm held out and fingers pointing downwards upright or slightly bent. It signifies the deity giving boon to the devotees. Its a symbol of offering, welcome, charity, giving, compassion and sincerity.

Varadamudra is often accompanied by Abhayamudra. In Abhayamudra, the right hand is raised, the arm bent and the palm facing outward with the fingers upright. This gesture is an assurance of divine protection, of reassurance and safety, which dispels fear.

Notice that in the above carvings the third figure (from Left) of Lord Narasimha is carved with two of his hands one each in Varada and Abhaya Mudra, here also the right and left hand is interchanged then what I wrote above. I am not sure how restrictive the ancient scriptures of carvings were about such particulars.

River Side Sculptures, Hampi – Lakshmi Narasimha

On another rock-face we see a stand-alone carving of Lakshmi-Narasimha; again with the same set of his hands in Varada and Abhaya mudra as in above figure.

In all the above carvings, the king of snakes, Adisheshnaga is seen protecting the lord under its seven-hoods. In this last sculpture, Lord Narasimha is seen sitting on its coil. It is believed that when Adishesa uncoils, time moves forward and creation takes place. When he coils back, the universe ceases to exist.

Devi Temple on the River side

From there we descend and walk towards the Devi temple. The lintel of the door is carved with Gajalakshmi. There is nothing much in that small temple, but the statue of Devi, which I shared with the readers in the previous post.

What is interesting is that most of these idols have fresh vermilion marks; indicating that a priest might be there at some other time of the day and did the worship.

Shivalingas and Nandi Everywhere

On the way, towards the devi temple we come across numerous Shivalingas. There is a single Shivalinga, two Shivalingas, five shivalinga, hundred and eight Shivaling and Thousand Shivalingas.

Shiva’s vehicle Nandi is carved along with these and at some of the Linga carvings, the devotee couple are also carved.

River Side Sculptures, Hampi – Reclining Vishnu

And then among these boulders along the shores of Tungabhadra, we notice the Reclining Vishnu on Sheshanaga.

The statues of Lord Vishnu is carved in three forms – Sthanak (Standing), Asana (Sitting) and Sayana (Sleeping). Here the statue is carved in Sayana (reclining) pose.

In this pose, the one-fourth of the deities body should be somewhat raised and the remaining three-fourth should be lying flat on the body of Sheshnag.

The body of Lord Vishnu in this pose resembles a bow. This statue has four hands with one of the left hand placed near the pillow trying to reach the Kirita (the crown), while the other hand is lying parallel to the body stretching upto the thigh. In other pair of hands, He is shown holding Concha and Chakra.

The idol is adorned with ornaments and Lord Brahma is carved on a lotus coming out of Lord Vishn’s naval. There is a sage towards his head, Garuda in attendance at some distance from his feet and Devi Lakshmi and Bhumi Devi towards his feet.

As per suggestions of Shipa-shastra, Devi Parvati should be holding a lotus in one hand and her other hand should be in kataka pose. And Bhudevi is shown holding a Nilotapala (blue-lily) in one hand and other hand should be in kataka pose.

This statue is too worn-out to make out what the hands of the two goddesses are holding and the pose they were carved in. Theses goddess are carved towards the foot of the lord in a manner that they are seen holding his left foot.

Returning back to Chakratirtha

I would say that this idol is a discovery of the day as the carving is amazingly intricate. The Shivalingas were eye-catching too, but I find this idol much more beautiful, so much so, that it is difficult to turn my gaze away from the sculpture. However, the sun is about to set, and it would be dark soon. There is no-one around, so we must move fast back towards the Chakra-Tirtha;

We trek back. There are some anxious moments during the boulder-hopping as it is getting dark; we take a sigh of relief as we reach the grassy-land just before the Chakra-Tirtha. What a thrilling and worth-while detour! Thanks kids for suggesting the same.

Please click here to read about similar roaming around in Hampi

Please click here to read about the story of Lord Narasimha after he killed Hiranyakashyap

Series Navigation

<< Coracle Ride on the river Tungabhadra, HampiA photo-feature on Ancient Kampa Bhupa Path in Hampi >>