Hampi Unseen Part 6 - Cave Paintings of Mosalayyana Gudda

"Such a place does not exist here, I have been working here for the past thirty years and never have I heard of a hill named Mosalayyana Gudda", these were the words of a lady in response to the query of the whereabouts of Mosalayyana Gudda (Gudda-Hill)! These words were totally out of sync with  the book I was referring to with regards to Mosalayyana Gudda. My friend  gave me a puzzled look after which we decided to continue towards the much known Vijaya Vittala temple. Surprisingly, the information board put up opposite the temple entrance gave us the exact location of the hill we were in search of! Wasting no time, we walked curiously towards the hill and reached its base.

Mosalayyana Gudda

While we were anxious about finding the cave paintings, a local shepherd boy came to our rescue and confirmed about the presence of paintings on a few rocks. After further discussion with him, we realized we were close to the site of cave paintings. The boy was bound to his duty of taking care of sheep and hence was unable to guide us to the caves personally. We thanked him and as we climbed the hill, we began to examine every rock that we came across for paintings. We looked around for quite sometime, yet there were no signs of any paintings. Walking along, we reached a reasonably plain stretch of land  surrounded by heaps of rock, making it difficult to find the cave paintings.

Pile of Rocks which housed the Paintings

Musical Rock 

After a small break, our hunt continued. While we checked every rock carefully, a red color paint on the rock caught our eye and we reached that pile of rock straight away and eureka! We had found it. There they were! We had to climb a big boulder to have a closer look at the paintings. We were so thrilled and my friend admitted that he had never seen anything like this before. We carefully examined the cave paintings and spent a good time admiring the skills of the pre-historic people.

First Look @ Cave Paintings

Line Paintings of Humans

Bull Painted 

Bull Rock Carving 

I revisited this site with my wife and four of my best friends. Everybody was equally excited to witness these pre-historic paintings. Further climb led us to the peak of the hill from where the views were amazing, giving us a chance to click some great shots.

Vijaya Vittala Temple

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Hampi Unseen -4 Vijaya Vitthala Temple

  The most famous temple in the world heritage site of Hampi is the Vijaya Vitthala Temple . This temple is rightfully considered as the best example of Vijayanagara art and architecture. There is a massive enclosure to the temple with entrance gates at north, south and east directions, surmounted by lofty gopuras. The well known stone chariot of Hampi is located in this complex. The unique feature of this temple is the set of musical pillars. 

Aerial View of Vijaya Vitthala Temple 

Hampi Unseen III

Anantasayana Etched on a Rock 

'Anantasayana' or 'Sesasayana' is an aspect of  Lord Visnu, depicted recumbent on the coils of the cosmic snake Ananta, with the snake's seven hoods forming a canopy over the sleeping god. The serpent lies on the waters of the shoreless cosmic ocean. Anantasayana embodies the three cosmic functions of creator, preserver and destroyer.

 Lord Anantasayana is beautifully etched on a rock located on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. Here, the sleeping Visnu reclines on the coils of the snake Ananta and from his navel emerges a lotus stalk, on the flower of which is seated Lord Brahma, the creator of the world.  Sridevi and Bhudevi, the consorts of the Lord Visnu are depicted beautifully near his feet. Lord Visnu is seen holding his emblems viz., the conch (shanka), discus (chakra), mace (gadha) and lotus in his four arms. Lord Hanuman and Garuda are also seen worshiping Lord Visnu by his side.

From time immemorial, Lord Anantasayana is being worshiped on the river banks, as they are assumed to be the Kshirasagara or Cosmic ocean, from which Brahma created the world. There are many famous temples in India and Nepal, dedicated to Lord Anantasayana  and all these are situated on the banks of rivers.

References: The Illustrated Dictionary of Hindu Iconography by Margaret Stutley

On the Banks of Tungabhadra 

Hampi Unseen -II

An obvious question that runs in any travelers mind about Hampi is the actual time required to explore Hampi in total. Most people, depending upon the period of vacation, number of places to be covered, purpose of visit, etc., decide the duration of travel which may vary from a few days to months. An elderly friend of ours was quite curious to know if we had explored Hampi completely and when he questioned us about the same, we replied with a smile and nodded our heads in a way that meant we hadn’t, and also affirmed him of doing it shortly.

Long time back, we had read about one, Mr. Robert in a newspaper which stated about him as follows, “He quit his job in Dutch and came to India, traveled many places and finally settled at Hampi. He has been a resident of Hampi and has been painting ever since”. Our search for him began when we stepped into Hampi. Having met him, seen the paintings and interacted with him about his passion for paintings about Hampi, we can say for sure that they truly are a reflection of the grandeur of Hampi and the life style of Lambani tradition. It is quite intriguing to know that Hampi has kept him motivated for a long period of 35 years and is still on. He says with pride that Hampi always has something new to offer him each day. Kudos to you from all of us Mr.Robert! After meeting Mr. Robert, it seems like Hampi is an ocean and any amount of exploration is just a drop in the ocean!

Robert's Workshop

Mr. Robert

Hampi Unseen Cave Paintings

Cave Paintings 

  More details coming soon .