Saiva · Vijayanagara, Karnataka
Virupaksha Temple, Hampi
Virupaksha (Sivan) with Pampa Devi on the Tungabhadra
GeneralMarriage
The temple in short
- Deity
- Virupaksha (Sivan) with Pampa Devi on the Tungabhadra
- Where
- Vijayanagara, Karnataka · 15.34N 76.46E
- Usual hours
- 6 am – 1 pm, 3 pm – 8 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?
- Grahas
- Guru
- Visited for
- The one temple of Vijayanagara still in worship, where Pampa married Virupaksha. The Phalguna Utsav and the chariot festival are its days.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that Pampa, a daughter of Brahma, did penance on this bank to marry Sivan, and that the marriage took place here. Sivan took the name Pampapathi from her, and the river below is the Pampa — the Tungabhadra.
The country around is identified in the Ramayana tradition with Kishkindha, the monkey kingdom, and the hills across the river are pointed out as Anjanadri, where Hanuman is said to have been born.
What is recorded
Documented history
Virupaksha is the one temple at Hampi that has never gone out of worship. The rest of the Vijayanagara city stands as ruins around it, and the whole site is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The shrine is older than Vijayanagara and was greatly enlarged under it; the tall eastern gopuram is associated with Krishnadevaraya.
What there is to see
Description
The eastern gopuram rises over the old bazaar street, and the approach along that street is the way the city was meant to be entered.
In a chamber behind the sanctum, light through a small opening throws an inverted image of the gopuram onto the wall. It is pointed out to every visitor and is the thing most people remember.
The painted ceiling of the ranga mandapa, the Hemakuta hill temples immediately above, and the Tungabhadra with its coracles are all within a short walk.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
The Phalguna festival, kept as the marriage of Virupaksha and Pampa, and the chariot festival that follows it are the temple’s own days.
Maha Shivaratri fills the site. The Hampi Utsav, a state-run cultural festival, brings a different and much larger crowd to the ruins.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Pampapathi Temple, Pampa Kshetra
- Period
- Older shrine much enlarged under Vijayanagara in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
- Reaching it
- Hampi is about 13 km from Hosapete, which is the nearest railway station and the usual base. Hosapete is roughly 350 km north of Bengaluru.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
- Banashankari Amma Temple, Badami 101.8 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, Mantralayam 128 km · Vaishnava
- Renuka Yellamma Temple, Saundatti 149 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Jogulamba Temple, Alampur 188.7 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Marikamba Temple, Sirsi 192 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Mahanandiswara Temple, Mahanandi 204.2 km · Saiva
Add what you know
Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.
- Were the hours right when you went?
- Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
- A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board
A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.
Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.