Musical Pillars and Stone Chariot - Vitthala Temple, Hampi

Vitthala Temple

This is one of the most sumptuous and outstanding developement in Hampi which takes your breath away. Musical Pillars and Stone Chariot (which itself is a temple) are the major attractions of Vitthala temple.

In Vithala temple, i was amazed to hear the concept of musical pillars. There are 56 musical pillars in magnificent Ranga Mantapa, one of the sanctum in the temple.

Each pillar emits different kind of music tones like tabla, bansuri, vidan and many more. It is built in such a way that with the emission of the sound from one pillar starts emitting sounds from other pillars also and creates music. Doesn't it surprise you ? Our guide emitted the tabla tone from one of pillar, it was really tantalizing.

I was disappointed to see that there is a fall down in this sanctum the same day. Someone or probably many in the past put a lot of efforts to make this enthralling and excellent piece of architecture which probably is beyond the imagination of any. But due to lack of maintainance, one of the fall down happened that day.

Stone Chariot is another attraction of this Vithala temple. As the name suggests, it's a shirine built as a chariot that was meant for taking out the deities on a traditional procession.

Vittale represents Lord Vishnu and the chariot represents Lord Garuna.

Currently the chariot is devoid of any idol and originally placed 2 horses have been replaced with 2 stone elephants to drag the chariot. Chariots stands on a rectangular platform and faces the temple. Chariot also has got beautiful intricate carvings.

Our guide showed us the remaining hints of the natural colors in some part of the chariot that were used initially to make this chariot colorful. With the passage of time, this color has wiped off from the chariot and only glimpse of it can be seen now.