Virupaksha Temple is located in Hampi in the Bellari district of Karnataka, India.
It is part of the Group of Monuments at Hampi, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. .
The
temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, known here as Virupaksha/Pampa pathi, as the consort
of the local goddess Pampadevi who is associated with the Tungabhadra River.
There is also a Virupakshini Amma temple (mother goddess) in a village called
Nalagamapalle, Chittoor
district, Andhra Pradesh, approximately 100 km from
Tirupati.
The
temple's history is uninterrupted from about the 7th century. The
Virupaksha-Pampa sanctuary existed well before the Vijayanagara capital was
located here. Inscriptions referring to Shiva date back to the 9th and 10th
centuries. What started as a small shrine grew into a large complex under
the Vijayanagara rulers.
Evidence
indicates there were additions made to the temple in the late Chalukyan and Hoysala periods,
though most of the temple buildings are attributed to the Vijayanagar period.
The huge temple building was built by Lakkana Dandesha, a chieftain under the
ruler Deva Raya II of the Vijayanagara Empire.
Under the Vijayanagara
rulers, in the middle of the 14th century, there began a flowering of native
art and culture.
When the rulers were defeated by Muslim invaders in the
16th century, most of the wonderful decorative structures and creations were
systematically destroyed.
The religious sect of
Virupaksha-Pampa did not end with the destruction of the city in 1565. Worship
there has persisted throughout the years. At the beginning of the 19th century
there were major renovations and additions, which included ceiling paintings
and the towers of the north and east gopurams.( wiki)
Hampi is a great tourist spot in India. One must visit the place to understand the past glory of its rulers and people who have suffered much( though I am yet to see the place.
Detailed videos on this temple is available on the net.
Be happy. Be safe.
ॐ तत् सत्
9 AM
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