Grand finale to Hampi’s royal fest holds crowds spellbound

HAMPI - Curtains came down late Friday on the three-day 500th anniversary celebrations of the coronation of the Vijayanagara emperor Sri Krishnadevaraya in the ruins of this renowned world heritage site here.

The grand finale of the cultural extravaganza showcasing the life and times of the mighty empire in the Deccan heartland of peninsular India held the crowds spellbound for over three hours.

The native songs, folk dances and musical compositions from the well-lit dazzling stage reverberated across the 26-square km ruins dotted with hilly rocks, boulders and the flowing Thungabhadra river on the northern side of this capital city.

When Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) senior leader L.K. Advani crowned the emperor’s 19th descendant bearing the same name - Krishnadevaraya - with a replica of the royal headgear, thousands of people cheered and applauded the moment.

The present Krishnadevaraya owes his linage to the daughter of the 16th century emperor and belongs to the Aravidu dynasty.

Congratulating the Karnataka government - the BJP’s first in the state - and the people of Hampi for organising the coronation anniversary five centuries on, Advani said the mega event was a fitting tribute to the great son of the soil who was not only a great warrior, but also a noble king, poet, scholar and patron of arts and culture.

“The glorious achievements and rich contributions of the golden era of the Vijayanagara Empire and its extraordinary king should not be limited to Hampi or Karnataka, but spread across the country and overseas,” Advani said.

Advani’s 30-minute valedictory address in Hindi was translated into the local Kannada language by BJP general secretary H.N. Ananthakumar.

The former deputy prime minister also released a book titled “Hampi - A Story in Stone” on the occasion.

Besides Advani, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, several religious heads and other dignitaries participated in the valedictory function.

State Tourism and Infrastructure Minister G. Janardhana Reddy said the Hampi Utsav (fest) would be held every year for three days Jan 27-29 at the same venue to celebrate the coronation of the empire’s king and make the heritage site a global tourist hotspot.

The state government also decided to set up a Vijayanagara Krishnadevaraya University at Bellary, about 75 km from here, and a super specialty hospital to provide the latest healthcare facilities to the people of north Karnataka.

The three-day celebrations drew an estimated half-a-million people from across the region and neighbouring states.

Elaborate arrangements were made to hold the fest in the ruins, whose monuments, temples, palaces and rock statues were illuminated with high-beam lights, transforming the medieval city into a fairyland under a moonlit sky and could be seen from as far as Hospet town, 12 km away.

Earlier in the day, Advani laid the foundation stone for a majestic theme park in the nearby Hampi University campus to depict the pomp, pageantry and splendour of the Vijayanagara empire.

The 200-acre park will be built by the state government at a cost of Rs.80 crore in the next two-three years on the lines of the Aksharadham temple on the bank of the Yamuna river in New Delhi.

The landscaped park will also have a museum to exhibit the artefacts of the empire, a multi-media theatre to depict the life and times of the kingdom and a publication house to print books and journals on the contributions made by the empire that ruled for over 300 years.