Dec 9th 2025. Our day started early, Sridhar and I drove from Dharwad to Hampi with a breakfast stop between Gadag and Koppal. A few kilometers after Hampi we stopped briefly to check out Agasi and Kuparama Vatika, the ancient gateway of Hampi and the octagonal shaped well. Then we stopped at Anantashayana Gudi at 9-00. We spent about 30 minutes admiring the humongous structure. The next stop on our morning itinerary was Pattabhirama Gudi, Lokapavani, Domed gateway, and a Shivalaya. The first three were situated at Kamalapur while the last one was a few kilometers away on Kamalapur-Daroji road.
Pattabhirama Gudi is one of the largest and well preserved temples of Hampi. It's a large complex comprising of the main temple, a secondary temple, a pillared hall, an open well, tourist shelter along the perimeter, a Gopura on the eastern wall, a kitchen and wide open space around the temples. The eastern entrance is blocked and the southern entrance is the only way to access the complex.
Here's the transcription of the description of Pattabhirama Gudi:
This temple, dedicated to Rama was built in the ancient city of Varadajammana Pattana founded by Achyutaraya, named after his wife. The temple is dated to 16th century CE. The temple faces east and consists of a garbhagriha (sanctum), an antarala (antechamber), a pradakshinapatha (circumambulatory passage) around garbhagriha and antarala, a sabhamandapa (pillared hall), a mahamandapa (a large pillared hall). It also has an Amman shrine in the northwest and a kalyanamandapa in the southeast. All these are enclosed in a prakara wall with entrances on the north and south and a five storeyed gopura on the east. The inner face of the prakara wall is lined with colonnades. The garbhagriha, antarala, sabhamandapa and mahamandapa are all square. The sabhamandapa has on its north and south sides mukhamandapas. The spacious mahamandapa stands on 58 slender composite pillars of various types and has flight of steps flanked by balustrades on east, north and south. The pillars have depictions of Vaishnava deities, Hanuman, Garuda, dancers, drummers, yali, etc. The superstructure over the garbhagriha is a three storeyed Dravida style shikhara. The Amman shrine faces east and has a garbhagriha, an antarala, and a sabhamandapa. It has a two storeyed shala shikhara. The kalyanamandapa, built abutting the south prakara wall faces north and has sculptural scheme similar to that of mahamandapa.
A view of the open pillared shelter for tourists and pilgrims. Sridhar remarked that tying a sheet of cloth across pillars will create a 'cubicle' for those who wanted little privacy. Maybe slots were allotted on the basis of the number of members of a group. I'm wondering if bullock carts were allowed inside for convenience. Maybe yes since the gateway floor is flushed to the ground (see previous image).
Here's a screen-shot taken from Google Maps, the aerial view with individual components marked.
A - Gopura on eastern entranceB - the main templeC - Kalyana MantapaD - southern entranceE - secondary templeF - kitchen
Between the main temple and Gopura is a small mantapa with two pillars holding a wall. I guess this is an incomplete temple since there's a Shikhara sitting over the beams. The Gopura and Shikhara, both built of brick and mortar seem to be built during the same period of time.
Gopura as seen through the incomplete temple. The granite blocks are really well finished. I guess even the least trained apprentice sculptor could produce such blocks in the ancient times.
Here's a diagonal view of the main temple which happens to be dedicated to Sri Rama. As per archaeological sources, this was built during King Ahyutaraya's rule. Incidentally, the temple presently known as Achyuthraya Devastana which was dedicated to Sri Krishna was also built around the same time. Coming back to Pattabhirama Gudi, it has a large mahamandapa i.e. the outer meeting hall. It's a sixty four pillared hall arranged in a 8x8 matrix like a chess board. Each of the pillars four faces carry three images each which makes it twelve per pillar. The outer pillars are exceptions since their designs are slightly different.
Sridhar climbs the balustraded steps and about to step into the sixty four pillared hall. Among all the temples of Hampi, this is one of the best preserved. Of course, some parts of the temple have been repaired. The two balustrades feature a imaginary creature called the Yali. Such balustrades can be seen in Chalukyan temples as well but they might've been added during Hoysala or Vijayanagara times.
A view of the pillared hall. The foremost pillar has images of Hanuman and a squatting lion. At the top are images of Garuda and a dancing girl. Likewise, if one checks out each of the pillars, one can feel the creativity of the ancient sculptors through this imagery.
From the mahamandapa, we step into the sabhamandapa, the inner meeting hall. This hall has two side entrances placed on the northern and southern sides. At the center of the hall is the Rangamandapa in which dance performances used to take place.
This is the mandapa sheltering the southern side. The doorway has been reinforced with additional support in recent times. In this view, the temple's Shikhara comes into view. Unlike Hoysalas and Chalukyas. Vijayamagara builders preferred brick & mortar towers to stone towers. I guess the thought behind brick & mortar Shikhara was to reduce the load over the lower structure.
The three storeyed Dravida style shikhara.
Coming around to the rear of the complex. The secondary temple comes into view which is dedicated to Amma as per the information board. Even this temple has undergone repair work. A reinforcement wall has been added to support the original structure.
This is the northern side of Pattabhirama Gudi. The exterior walls are almost plain except for the niches. Originally every niche would've had a particular deity.
Sridhar checks out Amma temple from outside, we had no thought of stepping in. The pillars of the sabhamabdapa are plain but have the standard three sections. There's only one entrance to this temple which is in alignment to the Garbhagriha door. The front steps are flanked by balustrades featuring elephants.
Turning attention back to the main temple; this is the northern side. The side entrance is similar to the southern entrance. In plan the temple is symmetric in the east-west axis.
At the northeastern corner of the complex are the kitchen house and an open well. Surely a permanent kitchen is required since a Kalyana Mantapa is present. Vijayanagara temples are the best organized for celebrating cultural events like birthdays, weddings, naming ceremonies, etc. The required infrastructure was in place. In fact part of the pillared shelter along the compound wall was also used as dining area.
The five tiered Gopura has withstood the tests of time. Most of the plaster has peeled off making it east for vegetation to thrive on the structure, yet the building blocks have held together. That's the quality of ancient works. As you see the passage is gated, obviously to keep out vandals.
Wish I could see this grand structure in it's original form. The stucco figures have managed to hold on but they are crumbling slowly. I guess there's a limit to maintenance spending, we have to accept that fact. Ultimately, everything has to bow down to Nature.
Frontal view of the main temple. The mahamandapa has concealed every other part of the temple including the Shikhara. The Shikhara remains hidden because of the temple's length. This structure's footprint is approximately 68m x 28m which comes to 1900 square meters. The entire complex measures 166m x 96m which comes to 16000 square meters. Wow!
This north-facing pillared hall is the Kalyana Mantapa. The day being cloudy, photos are rather dull. The pillars are decorative and awe-inspiring. One could spend hours gazing at the figures on the pillars.
Pillars along the edges are complex compared to the inner ones. However the pillars of the Ranga Mantapa or the central stage are complex too, at times the most decorative pillars there.
Done with the tour of this temple we head towards the Pushkarni which is about 200 meters away. Every temple must have a source of water. The ancient builders made sure of that and built stepped tanks or dug wells. Life back then was simple but wholesome, I guess.
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