HAMPI – Part VII of VII : We Wonder

Series :

HAMPI – of what remains of the ancient Vijayanagara is hauntingly beautiful.

Part VII : We Wonder

 

“Have you noticed how different the hills of Hampi are ? “ I exclaimed.

Anindya was driving us back home. We had started from our hotel in Hospet at around 6:30 am. Music on, it was a long bumpy drive ahead. Glimpses from the last two days were flashing across both of our minds.

“What do you mean?” Anindya asked , turning down the volume of the music player, parting his attention from the road.

“I mean, the hills of Hampi are made out of granite boulders, arranged on each other. It is so very different from other hills we come across. Even the Sandura Mountains of Hospet which is hardly 15 Km away from Hampi is of totally different appearance. What do you think would lead to formation of such heaves of boulders?”

The boulder strewn landscape of Hampi

Anindya nodded thoughtfully, “True. What would have created that!? The hills of Hampi are really distinctive”

I got encouraged to carry on with what was going on in my mind for some time now.

“Doesn’t it look like piles of debris, rubbles of some destruction? If a gigantic granite palace is brought down, the remains will probably resemble the hills of Hampi. Years of erosion would have smoothed the surface of the granite and we see it in the present form they are.”

Anindya was excited, “Now that you are saying, I too feel the same. The hills do really look like piles of debris from distance. Who knows what had been there thousands of years ago. It is quite possible that some ancient advanced civilization existed at a prehistoric time, whose palaces might have been there, which eventually got destroyed. There must have been some powerful massive explosion, some sort of nuclear cataclysm that would have brought down the huge structures that would have been there.”

Both of us felt excited to see the hills in a new light, though there is probably a more reasonable explanation as per natural laws which explain the origin of the hills. I made a note in my mind to check out how the geologists explain the formation of such hills.

the fascinating landscape of Hampi, the hills resemble waves of heaves of boulders,

Our drive to Bangalore was uneventful. The road was no better or no worse than what I have described in the Part I of the series. We stopped once to take petrol and once to have food at Kamat, at a distance of around 140 Km from Bangalore. We reached our ‘Home sweet home’ by 2:00 pm.

Our Hampi trip was over. What a trip it was! Hampi filled our hearts with awe, excitement, happiness and more. Had we got another one day, we could have taken a coracle ride and covered Anegondi. But that remains pending till the time we come back.

Geology of Hampi

Well, after coming back from Hampi,  I did search for the geologist’s explanation for creation of the extraordinary landscape of Hampi and this is what I found. I would try to put it in simple words.

Hampi is situated on a part of the Deccan plateau which is one of the oldest exposed surface on the earth. Granite rocks in general are formed as huge monolithic chunks when lava freezes deep inside the earth without coming in contact with the atmosphere. The granites thus formed are sometimes moved towards the surface of the earth due to upliftment of the entire region due to tectonic movement, forming granite mountains. Now let the elements of weather, the sun, rain, wind  work on the giant monoliths of granite for millions of years. The result is the landscape you see at Hampi.

 

But, our minds are only half convinced by the Geologist’s explanation. We continue to remain mystified by the peculiar structures of the hills. Who knows what was there thousands of years ago and what happened at that time! May be the association between Hampi and human civilization is much older than we suppose! Or may be the Geologists are right. What do you think ?

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If you have missed out, please find below the links to the previous posts of the Hampi Series

Hampi – Part I of VII – Drive from Bangalore to Hospet

Hampi – Part II of VII – The Vijayanagara Powerhouse and the Kingdom of Kishkindha

Hampi – Part III of VII – Exploring the Hemkuta Hills and the Virupaksha Temple

Hampi – Part IV of VII – Morning Tea by the Tungabhadra

Hampi – Part V of VII – Ruins that inspire Awe

Hampi – Part VI of VII – Sunset from the Matanga Hill