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In his book The Forgotten Empire, Robert Sewell wrote, “With fire and sword, with crowbars and axes, they carried on day after day their work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought… so suddenly, on so splendid a city; teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plenitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged, and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description”
My long cherished recent visit to Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakkal, the UNESCO World Heritage sites, culminated in a heart wrenching experience for me. The destruction and the ravage caused by the combined forces of Deccan Sultanates after defeating the Vijayanagara army in the battle of Tallikota in 1565 was unimaginable and unseen. The once very prosperous empire, Hampi, was plundered, treasury looted, temples, palaces, monuments destroyed and the entire capital was razed beyond description.
It was a poignant site to watch the innumerable temples surrounding the area, wearing the look of a graveyard piled up with mutilated dead bodies (idols). The idols and stone carvings surrounding the temples were either defaced or disfigured. The dismembered idols stand as helpless victims to the gory and destruction unleashed on them. It was a tear-jerking sight to see the heads of the Nandi (Bull) idols cut off in most of the cases, as they lay headless and mutilated before the sanctum sanctorum of the main deity. Some Nandi idols even seem to shed tears in excruciating pain as the savages butchered them. Most of the temples don’t have deities.The sanctum sanctorums have only hollow and splintered platforms in place of deities. They were destroyed and displaced.
While it took several years of painstaking work for our sculptors to produce such stunning masterpieces using chisels and hammers, the vandals used crowbars,sledgehammers and axes to destroy these monuments within a short time. Such a hatred towards the Hindu monuments is beyond comprehension.
Every year a countless number of tourists visit these monuments, take photos, selfies, post reels and flood the social media objectifying the artifacts. They throw garbage around and dirty the places. These acts vilify the sacredness of the place and lower their dignity. We are showing the world, lack of respect for our own heritage sites.
I personally felt very disturbed for two reasons. Firstly for the inconceivable level of destruction and devastation unleashed on these very sacred monuments by the barbaric invaders. Secondly the insensitive acts of the tourists causing sacrilege of the holy places.
Even the ASI doesn’t seem to be interested in protecting these monuments or building up infrastructure in and around these places. The roads leading to Boothnath temple and lake Agastya ( a stone’s throw from the Badami Caves) go through filthy narrow lanes with pigs running around in muddy waters. The ASI can build up a beautiful corridor as they have done at Varanasi.The way leading to Aihole ( erstwhile capital city of Chalukyas) is a mud road and it goes through a very small village without proper drainage and the entire drain water flows on the street.
Mere boards, describing them as protected monuments don’t make the places genuinely protected or visit-worthy. They need to be supported by facilities, cleanliness and infrastructure.
Let us all preserve the splendour and grandeur of Hampi and other historical tourist places by being more responsible and conscientious tourists.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.