Hampi: Exploring the Ruins of Vijayanagara’s Imperial Capital by S. Srinivasachar (Hardcover)

Description

Directorate of archaeology and Museums Government of Karnataka [Published Date: 1995]. Hardcover, 136 pp.Photographed by T.S. Satyan, Essay by S. Srinivasachar ; designed and edited by Resource Communications. [From front jacket flap] The Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1336-1565) covered the entire peninsular India to the south of the Tungabhadra and its influence extended to Sri Lanka. Hampi, 385 km north of Bangalore, was the imperial capital of the mighty empire. Five lakh people lived in Hampi, same as the population of renaissance Rome, and the city was comparable to medieval Delhi in its heyday. ” What I saw seemed as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight… the best provided city in the world” writes Domingo Paes, Portuguese visitor to Hampi in 1520-22, one of the many travellers from Europe and Persia who have left glowing accounts of the medieval metropolis.Hampi’s ruins, breathing history and spread over a vast area, tell us about the triumphant existence of a great city and its turbulent and tragic end. The ruins, desolate and forlorn, consist of temples, sculpture, remains of secular architecture and of the fabled bazaars. UNESCO has declared the Hampi ruins as belonging to the World Heritage. T. S. Satyan, one of India’s well-known photo-journalists with international credentials, has photographed Hampi with sensitivity and a deep understanding. He uses technique discreetly so that the truth of Hampi appears as it is. The maestro’s work on these pages is a tour de force of artistic photo-documentation.S. Srinivasachar’s lucidly written and most readable essay is an inspired work with scholarly insights. A master of history and archaeology, Srinivasachar writes about “this rugged boulder-strewn and most improbable of all places (that) stirred in the womb of history to be born as the capital of a kingdom over six and half centuries ago”. Colourful and informative maps from Resource’s design studio provide a quick and succinct historical perspective…

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