Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Krishnadevaraya's Palace Hampi

During the last visit i had an unfinished agenda to locate Krishnadevaraya's palace.  Based on some clues i began my quest in the right earnest.  The ruins opposite to underground Shiva temple looks very much to be a palace, whether it belonged to Krishnadevaraya was a key question.  I recollected the Paes description that his palace was bound by huge boundary walls, whereas this place was quite barren, without boundary wall coverage, so it must been for a lesser known king of  Vijaynagar empire.

The secret chamber for meetings of the key personnel below is a mild clue for the location of  Krishnadevaraya's palace.  This spot obviously must be in the near vicinity of  his palace, but it is too much of a public place to locate his palace.  Most of the dusherra and other public functions were carried out in this premises.


Where can be palace located with the description and clues from the ASI my search became a long drawn process.  I firmly believe that the location is kept a secret for the fear of vandalism by treasure hunters.  It is quite but natural that even the ruined palace would not be spared it the location is revealed by ASI.  Maybe after the fortification is fully completed we may get to know the exact location of the palace officially.

Paes describes " This palace of the king is surrounded by a very strong wall like some of the others and encloses a greater space than all the castle of Lisbon "

" This is the best provided city in the world, and is stocked with provisions such as rice, wheat, grains, corn, and certain amount of barley and beans,moong, pulses, horse gram, and many other seeds which grow in this country, which are the food of the people, and there is large store of these and sold very cheap." Paes continues in his treatise.

One of the palaces are located in this Mahanavami dibba enclosure, but it cannot belong to Krishnadevaraya simply because it is too much of public place, for security angle it is ruled out.
" On every friday you have a fair ( santhe ) with many pigs and fowls and dried fish from the sea,and other produce of the countryside.  In this city you will find men belonging to every nation and people, and the many precious stones there, principally diamonds " Paes



This locale inside the zenana enclosure happens to house the queens palace and bathing pool, which is totally demolished. Can the location of the kings palace be far behind this secured enclosure which has four watch towers.


Lotus Mahal or the summer palace of the queen is located in the zenana enclosure too.
Ruined structure around the mosque does it imply soldiers quarters ?

 We have a close description of Krishnadevaraya's palace in this very location are the tourists heading towards the same, nope they are interested in the sculptures on the wall of  Hazar Rama temple.
 Behind the Hazaar Rama temple is very well enclosed with the boundary walls can this be leading to the description of the Paes that there was a temple nearby the kings palace.  This temple was considered to be private place of  worship for the royalty.
There is security watch tower in this enclosed boundary wall, can this be a certain clue for the Palace of  Krishnadevaraya.


Some of you might be interested in knowing  in detail History of Krishnadevaraya
 This ruined structure too has a semblance of a palace with huge enclosures can it be the palace which i am hunting for desperately, i don t think so.  It could be the palace of another king of Vijayanagar empire.

Vantage point to search for the kings palace

Noblemen's quarters

Another panaromic view of the Mohammadean centre, and the huge boundary wall enclosure.
To hunt down the location Krishnadevaraya's on the eve of  his  501 year of  his coronation was absolutely a  pleasure.

"The size of this city I do not write here, because it cannot all be seen from one spot, but i climbed a hill whence I could see a great part of it;.....what i saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight, .....in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of water which flow into the midst of it, and in places there are lakes and the king has close to his palace a palmgrove and other rich fruit bear trees "

This video should give some clue to the exact location of Krishnadevaraya's palace, unless it is officially declared i am constrained not to reveal the exact location guys.  Of course the thrill of locating an important landmark in the annals of history will always be cherished by me.  On the hindsight i know that i have risked in revealing the location to a greater extent.  The signboard too reveals the name of another kings palace but does not specify Krishnadevaraya's Palace.  



ACK :  A Forgotton Empire by Robert Sewell

16 comments:

Teamgsquare said...

Wonderfully written .

Tanmay said...

The palace enclosure of Hampi was one of the most intriguing places for me during my visit. I think it was because we could see lots of structures around, but most of them fully destroyed till their foundations. It gave just enough food for thought while leaving a lot to the imagination. I sat on the Mahanabami Dibba imagining the dancers. :)

Thanks for this post!

Deguide said...

Tanmay got to appreciate your power of imagination, maybe that platform currently looks like a stage for dancers.

Aarti said...

Hampi left me overwhelmed. i made my 1st visit a few months ago and it was memorable!!

Hari Narayana said...

The place where you find the mosque is actually the mint compound (place where they made the currency).

And the basement that you see behind the Hazara Ramachandra Temple is the palace of Vira Harihara.

And as you said, the one in the Zenana Enclosure is the Queen's palace.

Now.. Where is Sri Krishnadevaraya's palace..

It is right in the middle of the Royal Enclosure where you have the Mahanavami Dibba and the underground passage. You will also find the horse stables on either side just when you enter the Royal Enclosure...

Hope this helps...

Deguide said...

Well Mr Hari Narayana, the palace of Krishnadevaraya is not specifically mentioned may be fearing treasure diggers or hunters. In the same compound of Vira Harihara palace another signage is mentioned of Kings Palace, and this probably is Krishnadevaraya's palace, which has been completely destroyed.

Hari Narayana said...

I was reading something about Vijayanagara kingdom today and it was noticed by ealier travelers that "the King's palace was on a hill and at the foot of the hill, is the zenana or the harem and right infront are the homes for the generals (Surely it is Danayaka's enclosure) and to its left is the mint".


We cannot consider that the palace to be behind the Hazararama temple. No king would dare to have his palace higher than a temple, and that too so close to it.

My best bet would be the hill behind the Tenali Rama pavilion. All the locations fit into it except the mint.. Now a think to ponder is whether the mint compound is the one which is called today?

Looks like we need to explore more..

Deguide said...

Mr Hari Naryan, the description of Krishnadevaraya's palace comes from the writings of Domingo Paes who mentions that he had to climb a hillock, to get an idea of the palace. It obviously means that kings palace was on a plain ground, with high compound walls.

K K Kishore said...

Amazing blog .

Like in particular some tit bits not read or heard before.

Unknown said...

I visited this place a lot of times to check where would Raja Krishna Devaraya live and also his Palace. Could not locate. I always end up at the cave in Mahanavami Dibba. Got into the Cave and saw that it would end at a point, the path is closed with concrete. Not sure whats beyond that.

Deguide said...

Chetan, the palace is not revealed to anyone by ASI, simply fearing that the place would be subject to digging i suppose for treasure hunters, there is an ASI office in Hampi, if you visit them probably they will give you the right location with caveats

Deguide said...

Thank you for your response! We, at BBC Worldwide, are producing a series involving human-interest stories, based on history and mythology, where the storytelling style is modern docu-contemporary. The series is essentially an unprecedented, definitive list of the people, moments and stories that have contributed to India as we know it today. This list covers the most iconic faces, incidents and things in Indian history, across different categories.We would like to use some material we found online on your blog, as visual support for this series. Please do let us know if you hold the rights for the images in the below link and if yes then please let us know how we can proceed on acquiring this visual as well as getting permissions to use the same. We will, of course, provide an acknowledgment/credit/ footage courtesy on the show. We would like to use these in an episode that depicts Krishnadeva Raya as one of India's greatest kings.
BBC correspondent

Deguide said...

Thank you for your response! We, at BBC Worldwide, are producing a series involving human-interest stories, based on history and mythology, where the storytelling style is modern docu-contemporary. The series is essentially an unprecedented, definitive list of the people, moments and stories that have contributed to India as we know it today. This list covers the most iconic faces, incidents and things in Indian history, across different categories.We would like to use some material we found online on your blog, as visual support for this series. Please do let us know if you hold the rights for the images in the below link and if yes then please let us know how we can proceed on acquiring this visual as well as getting permissions to use the same. We will, of course, provide an acknowledgment/credit/ footage courtesy on the show. We would like to use these in an episode that depicts Krishnadeva Raya as one of India's greatest kings.
BBC correspondent

Unknown said...

awesome collection admin... keep blogging admin. from hanuman chalisa team

Khadria public school said...

May be it was on river side..or it was built by sandalhood which was burnt by enemies...

Ramesh Joshi said...

Hampi is the greatest example of advanced civilization prevailed any where in the world.The sheer imagination of how it looked with river fronts, hilly streets and busy market places around temples, the gatherings opposite Maha navami dibba makes spell bound. Alas...we should have preserved this one the three largest cities of the world in 16th century!

avinash

avinash
cannons ready to fire

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