Virupaksha Temple, Hampi

The sanctuary of Virupaksha and Pampa is far older than the city of Vijayanagara. Karnataka Tourism and other sources date the temple's origins to the 7th century, and its history of worship is regarded as unbroken from that time. Inscriptions referring to Shiva here date from the 9th and 10th centuries, and additions were made under the later Chalukyas and the Hoysalas, when the site, known as Pampa Kshetra, was a regional place of pilgrimage. The present shrine of the goddess Bhuvaneshwari is said to have been rebuilt in the Vijayanagara period over an earlier temple.

In the 14th century the brothers Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara kingdom, with its capital around Hampi. Tradition links the foundation to the sage Vidyaranya, who has a shrine within the temple. Virupaksha was the tutelary deity of the Vijayanagara kings, who issued royal grants in his name. Most of the temple's present buildings date from this period; English Wikipedia and other sources credit Lakkana Dandesha, a chieftain under Deva Raya II (15th century), with building much of the complex, and the great eastern gopura is dated by Karnataka Tourism to the 15th century.

The greatest patron was Krishnadevaraya (ruled 1509–1529). An inscription near the central hall records that he built the great pillared hall (Ranga Mandapa) in 1509–10 to mark his coronation, and he is also associated with gateway towers within the complex. Hampi at this time was one of the largest and richest cities in the world, and the street running east from the temple, now Hampi Bazaar, was its great market and processional way.

In 1565 the Vijayanagara army was defeated at the Battle of Talikota (Rakkasa-Tangadi) by an alliance of the Deccan Sultanates, and the capital was looted and largely destroyed over the following months. The Virupaksha Temple survived better than any other major temple of Hampi, and worship here continued even as the city was abandoned. In the early 19th century major renovations restored its damaged towers and ceilings.

In 1986 UNESCO inscribed the Group of Monuments at Hampi as a World Heritage Site, with the Virupaksha Temple as its living centre. The Archaeological Survey of India protects the monument, while worship continues under the State's religious endowments administration. The temple's annual festivals still draw pilgrims from across Karnataka and beyond.

The Virupaksha Temple is a major example of Vijayanagara architecture, the last great phase of the Dravida tradition in the Deccan, built in the granite of the surrounding boulder hills. The complex is aligned east to west along Hampi's main street and is entered through the great eastern gopura, known as the Bistappa gopura. Karnataka Tourism gives it nine storeys and a height of about 50 m, built in the 15th century. Its lower storeys are of stone; the upper tiers are of brick and lime plaster, covered with stucco figures, and the tower is crowned by a barrel-vaulted roof with horn-like finials at the ends.

The eastern gopura leads into a large outer courtyard with subsidiary shrines and pillared halls, and a smaller inner gopura, often associated with Krishnadevaraya, opens into the inner courtyard. On the north side, the Kanakagiri gopura gives access to the Manmatha tank and the river ghats. The temple's tiered plan, with smaller structures repeating the forms of larger ones, has been noted for its fractal-like geometry.

The heart of the complex is the sanctum with the lingam of Virupaksha, preceded by antechambers and a pillared hall, and in front of these the Ranga Mandapa built by Krishnadevaraya in 1509–10. This open hall is the finest piece of the temple: its pillars are carved as rearing yalis, mythical lion-like beasts ridden by warriors, a hallmark of the Vijayanagara style, and its ceiling preserves paintings of the 16th century or later restorations, showing the wedding of Shiva and Pampa, the Dashavatara of Vishnu, Shiva as Tripurantaka, Kama with his bow, and a procession of the sage Vidyaranya.

Shrines of the goddesses Pampa and Bhuvaneshwari stand to the north of the main shrine; the Bhuvaneshwari shrine is noted for its finely turned dark stone pillars and doorframe in the earlier Chalukyan manner. Behind the sanctum, the chamber in which the inverted shadow of the gopura appears is a favourite stop. A channel of water from the Tungabhadra runs along the temple terrace, traditionally supplying its kitchen.