page_title: Hampi
section_title: Vitthala temple and market complex
hierarchical_section_title: Hampi / Description / Hindu monuments / Vitthala temple and market complex
caption_attribution_description: English: Vitthala temple complex is one of many quarters of the Vijayanagara Empire's old capital of Hampi. It consists of a shrine complex with an entrance gopurum, a major market with broad road and various water tanks and shrines along the way. This was a major Vaishnavism temple, with stone chariot shaped Garuda (Vishnu's vahana) shrine facing the main temple mandapa and grabha ghriya. The mandapa and the temple are all squares, wherein the main mandapa forms a star with overlaid squares. In all four directions there are minor shrines, with pillared halls. The main and smaller shrines include Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism images. Mini reliefs show legends from Hindu texts such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Some reliefs show Kama scenes, others Artha and daily life of people doing yoga, dance, playing music, playing with babies, making meals, etc. Some panels are devoted to Alvar saints and to the Hindu philosopher Ramanuja. A trilingual stone inscription dated 1516 is in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. One of the minor shrines features 100 pillars. The Vitthala temple complex, acccording to George Michell, shows evidence of systematic attempts at its destruction using fire and animal powered smashing. Hampi ruins and monuments date to pre-17th century period of South Indian history, particularly those related to the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire era (14th-16th centuries). The site consists of numerous ruins and temples over a large area, the most visited and studied are those located near the Tungabhadra river. The town derives its name from the Pampa Devi Hindu mythology in Sanskrit, with Pampa morphing into Hampa in Kannada, then Hampi. The city served as capital of the Vijayanagara rulers, was pillaged, ruined and abandoned after Muslim armies of a Sultanate coalition attacked and defeated it. In the modern era, it serves as an archaeological site and is a UNESCO world heritage site.
context_page_description: Hampi or Hampe, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka, India. It became the pilgrimage centre of the Hindu religion. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century. Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers, particularly the Portuguese, say that the Hampi state was a prosperous, wealthy and grand city near the Tungabhadra River, with numerous temples, farms and trading markets. By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal. The Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by a coalition of Muslim sultanates; its capital was conquered, pillaged and destroyed by sultanate armies in 1565, after which Hampi remained in ruins.
context_section_description: The Vitthala temple and market complex is over 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north-east of the Virupaksha temple near the banks of the Tungabhadra River. It is the most artistically sophisticated Hindu temple in Hampi, and is part of the sacred centre of Vijayanagara. It is unclear when the temple complex was built, and who built it; most scholars date it to a period of construction in the early-to-mid-16th century. Some of the books mention that its construction began during the time of Devaraya II and continued during the reign of Krishnadevaraya, Achuytaraya, and probably Sadasivaraya and it stopped probably due to the destruction of the city in 1565. The inscriptions include male and female names, suggesting that the complex was built by multiple sponsors. The temple was dedicated to Vitthala, a form of Krishna also called Vithoba. The temple opens to the east, has a square plan and features an entrance gopuram with two side gopurams. The main temple stands in the middle of a paved courtyard and several subsidiary shrines, all aligned to the east. The temple is a unified structure in a courtyard measuring 500 by 300 feet which is surrounded by a triple row of pillars. It is a low structure of one storey with an average height of 25 height.  The temple has three distinct compartments: a garbhagriha, an ardhamandapa and a mahamandapa (or sabha mandapa).
  The Vitthala temple has a Garuda shrine in the form of a stone chariot in the courtyard; it is an often-pictured symbol of Hampi. Above the chariot is a tower, which was removed during the late 19th-century restorations. In the front of the stone chariot is a large, square, open-pillared, axial sabha mandapa, or community hall. The mandapa has four sections, two of which are aligned with the temple sanctum. The mandapa has 56 carved stone beams of different diameters, shape, length and surface finish that produces musical sounds when struck; according to local traditional belief, this hall was used for public celebrations of music and dancing. It is classified as Karakkoil, a temple fashioned after temple chariots which are taken in procession around the temple during festivals.
  The mandapa links to an enclosed pradakshina patha for walking around the sanctum. Around this axial mandapa are (clockwise from east); the Garuda shrine, the Kalyana mandapa (wedding ceremonies), the 100-columned mandapa, the Amman shrine and the Utsav mandapa (festival hall). The walled enclosure covers aboput 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres) with colonnaded verandahs lining the compound walls. In the south-east corner is a kitchen with a roof window (clerestory).
  Outside the temple compound, to its east-south-east, is a colonnaded market street almost one kilometre (0.62 mi) long; all of which is now in ruins. To the north is another market and a south-facing shrine with reliefs of Ramayana scenes, Mahabharata scenes and of Vaishnava saints. The north street ended in a temple honouring the Hindu philosopher Ramanuja. The region around the Vitthala temple was called Vitthalapura. It hosted a Vaishnava matha (monastery), designed as a pilgrimage centre centred around the Alvar tradition. It was also a centre for craft production according to inscriptions found.
caption: Vitthala temple gopuram and market.
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