Hazara Rama Devasthana - part 1

August 13, 2017

This was the first day of our two-day Hampi tour. We started the tour early morning from the Queen's Bath followed by the Zenana Enclosure, Elephant Stables, Guards Quarters, Pan Supari Bazar and then Hazara Rama temple. This is one of the most visited temples of Hampi. The name "Hazara Rama" roughly translates to "Thousand Rama" which signifies the dedication to Rama or stories from Ramayana. The temple was built in the XV Century CE during the rule of Devaraya. This was the ceremonial temple for Vijayanagara royal family.

A tourism board planted close to the temple entrance describes this monument as follows.
The Hazararama temple is the only temple situated in the core zone of the royal enclosure between the residential and ceremonial enclosures. Dedicated to Vishnu in his aspect as Lord Rama, the 15th Cenury temple, is the finest example of compact Dravidian Vimana type of temple, in plan it has sanctum, vestibule, pillared dance hall, with an entrance porch to the north and south. The eastern porch is extended into an elegant pillared pavilion. There is a shrine for the goddess to the north which is also elegantly sculpted.
The temple is known for its sculpted friezes depicting the Ramayana, in three tiers, running all around the main shrine and narrative sculptures of the Lava-Kusha story on the Devi shrine. It is because of this the temple was evidently called the Hazara Rama, in addition, the temple is also known for the narrative sculptures of the Bhagavata, especially of Bala Krishna and the sculpted polished pillars of the Mahamantapa (main hall). It was undoubtedly, the temple of the royal patronage.

This is the temple's outer walls which portrays Mahanavami and Holi celebrations. Dancers, musicians, general public, soldiers with military elephants and horses participating in a grand procession. This is the eastern wall..

..the wall continues, so does the procession. The wall top cylindrical blocks has special characters.. mostly musicians and dancers.

This is the corner where the eastern wall meets the northern wall.

The northern wall is much longer and has a gateway at the midpoint.

Coming back to the temple entrance.. on the right hand side is this group of images. An archer shooting a wild boar, his arrow is about to pierce the beast. I feel strange seeing this because boar is a major element in Vijayanagara emblem. Also there's a female archer in pursuing a deer. Then there's a couple, the plump one is dancing while the other one is holding a serpent. The last image is the most interesting.. two bodies and one head. You can see a bull on the left and an elephant on the right with a common head. That's an interesting imagination.

Here we have images of women engaged in various activity and Hoysala logo. The woman in the middle is holding a long serpent in her hands while a smaller one hangs around her neck. Going by her figure she must be in her youth. Her hair is tied in a bun, so it was a fashion back then. In fact the other women also have their hair tied in buns.

As we step into the temple premises, on the right hand side are these sculptures. The two images must be depicting princesses.. one seems to be testing an arrowhead and the other one is seated on a diwan communicating with a parrot.

That's the gateway opening into the temple courtyard. The sculpted piece in the courtyard seems like a Shikhara cap-stone. For some reason, the originally open gateway Mantapa has been covered with slabs.

Now the main temple itself.. the Mukhamantapa is grand and spacious. The Mantapa is crowned with stucco work depicting Vishnu, Laxmi and other legendary characters.

Like most temples, Hazararama temple also has a meter high platform which can be climbed using these steps flanked by a pair of imaginary creatures.

Scenes from Ramayana and pillars decorate the front walls flanking the main entrance. The pillar tops have lotus in full bloom.

The other side of the door has three-axle chariots. The chariots on the right seems to be King Dasaratha's, looks like he's riding the vehicle with his three queens.

This wall shows Garuda and Hanuman individually. Between the two pillars is the scene from Ravana's court where Hanuman is seated on his coiled tail. Then there's Sita pointing out to the golden deer to Rama. Indeed, this temple is designed to exude Ramayana.

For a temple this grand, the main door frame is quite simple. This is the Sabhamantapa which is connects to the Garbhagudi and has three doorways. At the center of the hall is the Nrutyamantapa which is square in plan, has four exquisitely sculpted pillars of black stone. The mantapa has a circular dance stage. The circular dance stage has remained same through the ages from Chalukya to Vijayanagara.

The pillars side by side.. similar in design but each are unique.

This is the southern entrance. The northern entrance is similar.

Some key events from Ramayana.. Rama learning archery, Rama stringing Pinaka, Ravana and Anjaneya in a conversation, and so on.

Rama shooting an arrow through seven Sala trees is one event I can identify here.

This is southern wall. The ribbed level is one of the eye-catching parts of this temple.

This is a creation of a master craftsman. Looks like a complex piece of jewelry.

So far we have covered just the entrance and main temple. Within the complex there's another temple and two more halls for conducting ceremonies. We'll see them in the following post.. Hazara Rama Devasthana - part 2.
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