a trip with brother, Anjanadri and Onake Kindi

..continued from a trip with brother, Hampi-5.

After a limited one day tour of Hampi we drove across Tungabhadra to Anegundi side. The plan for the morning was to see Anjanadri Betta and then go over to the prehistoric site Onake Kindi. We left the lodge early and as we approached the river we stopped to admire the view of the bridge across Tungabhadra. We had stopped next to a granite quarry barely half kilometer from the bridge entrance.  BTW, it's called Bukka Sagara bridge named after a village close by. The spot was secluded except for light road traffic. I launched my DJI Mini2 and got a few shots of the river and bridge. Due to the river, air is usually laden with moisture and photos turn out hazy.

Here's a view of the left bank which happens to be part of Koppal district. Further down the road  there's a fork, right goes to Gangavathi town, and left goes towards Anegundi, Anjanadri and eventually reaches Hosapete-Vijayapura highway.

We passed by Kadeya Bagilu, Anegundi and Rishimukha Betta. About 800 meters before Anjanadri we stopped at Pampa Sarovara cross. This spot is ideal to photograph Anjanadri in the mornings. During my previous visit Sridhar and I had stopped at the same spot. I launched DJI Mini2 and navigated it towards Anjanadri Betta. This is the bird's eye-view of the hill from the northeasterly direction. Anjanadri Betta is named after Hanuman's mother Anjanadevi. This hill is believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman. Anjanadri Betta was known mostly to local people until our honorable prime minister's mother Heeraben Modi visited it in May 2014. Since then Anjanadri Betta, Pampa Sarovara & Chakra Thirta in Hampi have been a frequently visited destination for tourists from northwestern states of our country.

A closer view of the summit. This is the eastern side. Right besides the edge is the ancient temple. Off late there has been a lot of construction work to create a safe flat space for visitors. That's convenience at the cost of natural beauty. Also, I heard that state government has approved a ropeway system supposed to commence construction in Sept 2025. Personally I consider it as a step towards messing around the sanctity & natural beauty of this holy & beautiful place.

The south-south-westerly view. Here you can see the temple perched close to the cliff. I've visited this place five times. The most memorable visit was the one first time. It was a Saturday, almost evening. It We had climbed bare staircase, seen the sun sink into the hazy horizon. At the temple we had had a peaceful darshan of the deities. I'd seen the head Baba have tea and asked him if we too get tea. Without hesitation the Baba asked one of his juniors to fetch tea from the kitchen. That was one of the best cups of tea ever.

Pushpa and I had come here again in Aug 2017. During that time, it was an uncomfortable climb due to crushed stones littered on the steps.. side walls were being constructed. The next visit was in Dec 2024, this time there was fabricated steel roof for the staircase and a huge vehicle parking lot. So many changes in 12+ years. As if that's not enough, now there's a plan for ropeway system. Aagh!

After a couple flights, I pack up my DHI Mini 2 and head towards Anjanadri. We park Deepak's Brio at the parking place and pick a road side eatery dishing out hot idli and paddu. At home we have a 7 paddu pan. Here I saw a 27 paddu-pan. The sight of the eatery guy pouring out dough and prying out paddu was a captivating sight.

The final destination of our trip Onake Kindi was just 3 km away. Onake Kindi is a natural fort meaning it a natural rock formation with a clearing in the center. For us, the only way to reach the clearing is through a narrow passage which is well concealed. This picture was shot pointing at the entrance but a stranger won't even be able to spot the passage. Back in the 2010s there wasn't any tourism board here. Now we have one, seems like a recent addition.

The gates were locked. I wanted Deepak to see this historic site and didn't mind waiting. We saw a man riding a moped, I waved at him and asked about the caretaker. The man happened to be a friend of the caretaker, they spoke on the phone and we were assured that he would arrive in few minutes.

A handsome peacock was browsing the paddy fields silently. There's a lot of wildlife around here.. leopard, porcupine, bears, otters, board, jackals and hyenas to name a few. This place is a paradise for bird watchers.

While we waited, we sent the DJI Mini2 on another flight and got a few aerial shots. There's the Brio parked in front of the gates, the solar panels and the footpath vanishing into the rocks.

That's the clearing. Like I said it's a naturally protected place. This place, is private property owned by a high profile person of this region. A part of the clearing is a date farm. During my first and only visit back in Sept 2012, the palm were small, maybe 4 to 5 feet high. The trees have grown quite well in the past 12 years.

The tree under which the caretaker spends most of the days.

Just as we completed the flight and packed up Mini 2, the caretaker arrived. I remembered he was one of the two people we had met in 2012. His arrival coincided with the arrival of a group of tourist. This spot has caught the imagination of tourists. Guess it's good for the local economy.. keeps the taxi guys and tourist guides employed.

Within Onake Kindi there are three distinct spots to be seen, two of them have multiple painting clusters and one has one large painting. We start with the main painting which is in the mouth of a low cavern. That's Deepak checking out the figures in the largest cluster.. human, oxen, dogs, and other beasts. There are overlapping scenes of hunting.

Looks pretty chaotic, right?

The star attraction is the huge hooded serpent. The artist wanted to create an illusion of a snake emanating from the depths of the cavern. Seeing these artworks after a decade, I feel the ochre paint has faded slightly. Close by on one of the rocks is a elliptical pit (see inset) which would've been used to grind the medium. I'd read that the medium was a finely ground mixture of minerals, juices of certain leaves, blood and water. We'd discovered more than one such pit within Onake Kindi during the first visit. In fact we were fortunate enough to have picnicked here.

There's another painting here in the cavern which is intriguing. I have no clue what this represents but there are other blogs describing this as some kind of spaceship. Perhaps it is some kind of vehicle for space travel. Taking of prehistoric paintings and outer-space, one must check out the prehistoric paintings at Badami. There are depiction of a astronaut like humanoid and a saucer like flying object.  Then there are a host of creatures which seem very alien to us. Do check out the post.

The other tourist group, the caretaker and us had grouped here. Somehow we picked up a conversation and I happened to show my blog post of 2012 on Onake Kindi. The caretaker recognized himself. Honestly speaking, I'd forgotten his name. He reintroduced himself as Dhawalappa.

The tourist group too moved on. We took our time. Deepak spotted an Indian Silverbill perched on one of the thorny shrubs. If one sits still and concealed, one could get to see many types of avian creatures. 

The other spot and its lone painting is seen in this collage. The painting is high up and on the underside of that jutting rock. It's a good fifteen from the ground. The painting depicts seems to depict a gigantic human with short arms. There's no way one can reach that spot without things like ladders or poles. Wondering how the ancients managed to create the artwork.

Lastly we come to the second cavern. Unlike the earlier one, this is elevated and has a clear view of the entire clearing. Deepak's looking at the hunting scenes. Men astride horses and a wild beast seemingly a tiger can be seen here.

Dhawalappa and I catch up on the last visit. He sees the pictures again. He remembered our visit well including our homemade lunch even before seeing that particular phots. In the photos was Dhawalappa's colleague Narasimhalu. Apparently after a work related misunderstanding with the farm owner Narasimhalu quit the job and relocated to another place. Dhawalappa left us and asked us to look around the place leisurely.

We spent a few more minutes looking around. Deepak liked this place's ambiance. Left alone he might've spent the entire day here. However, we had to return to the lodge, we had overshot the checkout time.

We head back to the road, took Dhawalappa's home address, promised him to send his pictures and bid farewell.

We check out and head straight to Ashok Lodge & Restaurant, Kamalapur. Normally I do not eat much before a journey but today's going to be an exception. I wanted to taste Savaji food. The restaurant owner had had me hooked after saying that they cook fresh fish from the dam. Yes, it was the best fish fry and fish curry I'd had in the past decade. Later I'd mentioned to my friends that besides historical monuments and natural beauty at Hampi, there's another attraction. Yes, fish dishes at Ashok Restaurant.

The return journey was smooth, we reached home around 4-30 pm or so. I helped Deepak clean and wash his Brio, a small preparation for his return journey to Bengaluru. I wished he stayed another day or two more but he had some work to catch up. This would remain one of the best journeys

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a trip with brother, Hampi-5

..continued from a trip with brother, Hampi-4.

The second half of the tour commenced at Krishna Devastna & Bazaar. We must've spent more than hour admiring the stone work and, the remains of stucco art on the two towers of the temple i.e. the two Gopuras. In between we rested a bit too, we had to take breaks from the blazing sunlight. One relic of this temple which is unique is the donation chest made of granite blocks. The chest has two lids each with an opening for dropping cash or jewelry. Sheltered under a manatapa, the chest would be under heavy security during Vijayanagara times. Now, the monument is just an exhibit, seen by a fraction of tourists visiting Hampi.

Done with Krishna temple & market place, we head out towards Kamalapur and then to Malyavanta Gudda. The hillock is situated on Kamalapur-Kampli road, just 2.2 km from Kamalapur bus-stand. Though I'd visited Hampi half dozen times, this is only my second visit. The first time was Dec 2024 with Sridhar, it was midday when we came here.

This time we planned to come here late afternoon with a plan to see the Sun set. The short steep road going up the hill is okay for smaller passenger vehicles. Buses have to drop off people at the base and, they'll have to do the short trek.

Half way up the hill is this four-pillared manatapa. Besides it is a small flat ground. I guess this place was cart & cattle parking place during Vijayanagara times. We parked the car off the road and decided to check out the spot.

Another view of the Mantapa, and the southern Gopura of Malayavanta Raghunatha temple complex. Deepak wanted to launch his DJI Mini2 to shoot the wild hills and their rocky outcrops. We found a convenient spot on the side, it was partly shaded too. Yeah, sunlight was still blazing.

While Deepal got busy with his little flying machine, I took out my seldome used Canon and took a few shots. In the drier districts of Karnataka, especially on rocky hills one can see this silvery barked tree called Twanpani Mara. A fully grown tree seldom exceeds an height of 20 feet. It's wood is soft and decays fast. At the most it could be used at fuel. Apart from it's silvery bark, the other attraction of this tree is it's seeds. The seeds have two wings. When the seed frees itself, it spins like a propeller and floats down gently. Hence the tree is called propeller tree. It's botanical name is Gyrocarpus americanus.

During the winter months, the tree is bare except for bunches of seeds. Once the green wings dry and turn brownish-grey they get separated. Being situated on elevated & windy spots the seeds get spread out naturally. One can rarely this tree on flat open grounds. While on this topic, you might want to read an older blogpost on spinning seeds.

Here's a collage of a few shots.. a jagged surface of a sedimentary rock. After-life beauty of a wild plant. A weathered twig. Lastly, a bottle bap embedded in some kind of binding matter, probably mortar.

Bird's eyeview of Malyavanta Gudda. The temple complex can be spotted on the hill. Yes, this picture was captured by Deepak's bird.

Done with flying the bird and shooting random objects we pack up and head towards the temple.

This is the parking space, good enough for half a dozen cars and bikes. In plan, this is the eastern gate, technically the main gate however, the southern gate is grander since it faces the approach road. From here instead of entering the temple through the Gopura, you take the narrow path straight ahead, it leads to a staircase which in turn takes you to a group of manatapas atop the rock formation. That spot gives an interesting view of the temple and surrounding hills. Sridhar and I had been there however, this time I didn't suggest that.

This being a east-facing temple, it was pretty dim at this time of the day. The complex consist of three temples, one pillared hall, plenty of open space and a few large trees. The trees makes it even more dim. So we just looked around and rested. The open ground between Raghunatha Devastana and Kalyana Mantapa are two trees, Neem and Frangipani. Together they create a great ambiance, a great place to rest. At one of the corners lies a sculpture of a woman and fish. No ides what it depicts. Perhaps it's a kind of memorial stone. While people moved around on the ground, a red-faced monkey was picking something from Neem branches.. maybe ripe fruits.

Here's a collage of Frangipani, one of my favorite flowers. It's fragrance is mild and pleasant. Frangipani thrives where there's granite. You can find Frangipanis close to the summits of Savandurga and Chitradurga.

While one lone monkey was peacefully browsing Neem branches, a bunch of them were monkeying. Those four rowdies have piled up on that seemingly timid fellow. Deepak captured this amusing invaluable scene.

We got up and slowly made our way to the rear gate which leads to the sunset drama stage. There was a busload of French tourists thoroughly enjoying their tour of Hampi. A good number of them were elderly, trying to make the best of their time. See this picture.. the lower part is in shadow and the upper part is lit up in light quickly turning golden. Note the main temple's Shikhara, it's part natural rock and part brick-mortar construction. Earlier I had mentioned about a mantapa atop the rock formation. Now that's seen. That's a seldom visited spot.

Here we have the Shikharas of the main temple on the right, and the subsiadary temple on the left. The perimeter wall has cast its shadow and a narrow band of light has escaped through the narrow passage.

That's the Kalyana Mantapa and the southern Gopura. In the foreground is an incomplete sculpture of a lathe-turned wheel. In fact, if you look to the right, there's another one.

As we stepped out of the passage, Bala Hanuman leapt in front of us! This kid knew how to surprise people, and pose for pictures.

We learnt that this little Hanuman is trying to raise funds for medical treatment of a family member. I think the French tourists donated generously.

The southern Gopura seen from the elevated spot behind the complex. The design of ancient temple towers is much more than what meets the eyes. There's a rocket science connection to these structures.

Outside the walls of Raghunatha temple complex is a small shrine dedicated to Shiva. It's like a cave shrine, one has to bend low inside. That shrine is below this boulder and exactly below it's Shikhara is the Shiva Linga. Suryadeva has entered the stage and the audience was gathering. I realized that quite a crowd had turned up suddenly. Well, most of them wanted front row seats and we opted for the last row.

We didn't capture the dramatic moments as such but here's a good one by Deepak.

That's Anjanadri Betta, believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman. It's quite a landmark, hard to miss it while photographing in and around Hampi. We could see lights turning on out there. Off late the hill has gained popularity and people throng to it almost round the clock. We too had planned to go there in the morning.

We called it a day and headed back to Mayura Bhuvaneshwari. Over drinks and snacks we chatted past happenings.. sour, sweet and bitter memories.

Our trip is coming to its end and I'll wrap it up in the final post- a trip with brother, Anjanadri and Onake Kindi.

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