Hampi (town)
Hampi is a city in Hospet taluk of the Vijayanagara in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located along the Tungabhadra River in the east and center part of the state, near the border of Andhra Pradesh, Hampi is near the city of Hosapete. It is famous for hosting the Hampi Group of Monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hampi is mentioned in Ashokan epigraphy and texts such as the "Ramayana" and the Puranas of Hinduism as Pampaa Devi Tirtha Kshetra. Hampi was a part of Vijayanara, the capital of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th-century. It  became a center of economic and administrative activity of the Deccan region kingdom founded in opposition to Islamic Sultanates in South India. After over two centuries of rule, the Empire was defeated and destroyed by a coalition of Sultanates. Hampi was in ruins and abandoned. Since the 19th-century, its ruins became an important site for archaeologists and historians. Geography. Hampi is situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, midst rocky hills. It is from Bangalore, from Hyderabad and from Belgaum. The closest railway station is in the city of Hosapete (Hospet), 13 km away. Economic activity. The principal  economic activity in and around the town include agriculture, tourism and industrial activity related to iron ore, manganese and other minerals mining. The average rainfall around Hampi town is about 660 mm. The major crops grown are paddy, maize, jowara, bajra, groundnut, sunflower, sugarcane and cotton. Part of the Hampi farmlands are irrigated and there is a large dam nearby. Tourism. Hampi hosts, in part, a group of monuments that UNESCO has declared a world heritage site. In and after the 1960s, the town became an attraction for motorbikers and a site for offbeat tourism when its infrastructure was in  poor state. Groups of tourists would gather on its hills and midst its ruins, to hold parties and spiritual retreats, and these have been called "Hampi Hippies" and Hampi as the "lost city" in some publications. The annual Hampi Utsav or ""Vijaya Festival"" has been celebrated since the reign of Vijayanagara. It is organized by the Government of Karnataka as "Nada Festival". more than 1 million people visit this place.