I got up early to be on time only to be told that things had been delayed. So I took my time and then we got a phone call to hurry up, we were late. You can’t win around here! We drove several hours to spend the day at Hampi which is a huge old place of boulders and temples. It is a popular tourist attraction so we saw many different people. We did think it was rather discriminatory that Indians had to pay only Rs10 ($0.25) while non-natives had to pay Rs250 (about $6.25) to visit! The place was incredible though. I felt at times like I was in an Indian Jones movie, or had been transplanted to Egypt, or an archeological dig. The area can’t be measured in acres, just miles, and they are discovering new things daily. The architecture is of different ages, some of it 1500 years old, some older, some younger. We saw a pinhole camera that was a remarkable science. The image of the 165 foot high main temple passed through a small hole, not 6” square, and then appeared in reverse and inverted on the wall inside a dark room in a nearby building. It was like a person was displaying it with a fuzzy overhead projector on the granite. They said it is better in the morning in the summer when the lighting is better. I thought the whole thing was incredibly advanced. Some of the carvings on the main temple were downright pornographic and our guide explained that it had to do with sex-education.
Recently part of the ground collapsed and they discovered a secret, underground room which they said was a place for meetings of the rulers. We thought we might have lost Bernie in the dark maze but he finally re-appeared.
We also saw the Queen’s bath where she would go to swim, many different temples, aqueducts, beautiful stone walls, watch towers, and so much more. We were able to hear the signing columns and feed monkeys bananas and got blessed by an elephant that represented Ganesh (spelling?).
Most of the temples had damaged gods in them that were missing hands, noses, etc. It was explained to us that the Muslims came and damaged them in the search for mythological gold that was reputed to be hidden within the statues. Of course, no gold was found because it wasn’t there. Another thing is that the Hindu people will not worship the god statue if it has been even slightly damaged and I wonder how much this factored in to the Muslims destruction. No one will talk about it but there is definitely an undercurrent running between the Hindus and Jains and the Muslims. Although in Ilkal we did our presentation at the home of a Muslims Rotarian, everywhere else everyone seems to try to be tolerant but we can still feel the tension. I think it goes back to the history and still continues to modern day. I asked my one host several towns ago what the country was doing to try to control the population growth and he said they were encouraging the population to limit themselves to having two children per couple but he said the Muslims did not follow this law and often had many (4-8+) children. Another host told me that the Muslim man also may follow polygamy which isn’t exactly legal here but he also said they don’t follow the laws. I think this non-compliance irritates everyone.
It was a very long and tiring day in the sun and we were all hot and sticky and dirty in the end. Then of course we had to go for a 2100 dinner at the Gadag Rotary President’s home.
Recently part of the ground collapsed and they discovered a secret, underground room which they said was a place for meetings of the rulers. We thought we might have lost Bernie in the dark maze but he finally re-appeared.
We also saw the Queen’s bath where she would go to swim, many different temples, aqueducts, beautiful stone walls, watch towers, and so much more. We were able to hear the signing columns and feed monkeys bananas and got blessed by an elephant that represented Ganesh (spelling?).
Most of the temples had damaged gods in them that were missing hands, noses, etc. It was explained to us that the Muslims came and damaged them in the search for mythological gold that was reputed to be hidden within the statues. Of course, no gold was found because it wasn’t there. Another thing is that the Hindu people will not worship the god statue if it has been even slightly damaged and I wonder how much this factored in to the Muslims destruction. No one will talk about it but there is definitely an undercurrent running between the Hindus and Jains and the Muslims. Although in Ilkal we did our presentation at the home of a Muslims Rotarian, everywhere else everyone seems to try to be tolerant but we can still feel the tension. I think it goes back to the history and still continues to modern day. I asked my one host several towns ago what the country was doing to try to control the population growth and he said they were encouraging the population to limit themselves to having two children per couple but he said the Muslims did not follow this law and often had many (4-8+) children. Another host told me that the Muslim man also may follow polygamy which isn’t exactly legal here but he also said they don’t follow the laws. I think this non-compliance irritates everyone.
It was a very long and tiring day in the sun and we were all hot and sticky and dirty in the end. Then of course we had to go for a 2100 dinner at the Gadag Rotary President’s home.
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