Karnataka - Bellary   

Governor to inaugurate Hampi Utsav

BELLARY: Hampi, an erstwhile seat of the Vijayanagar Empire and now a city of ruins, will come alive again during the Hampi Utsav, a three-day mega cultural festival of dance, drama and music, to be inaugurated on Saturday.

Governor Rameshwar Thakur will inaugurate this year’s utsav.

The entire city, situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra with rocky terrain surrounding it, presents a natural scenic beauty. The city will be agog with a variety of cultural activities.

The utsav, which is being organised by the Government on a large scale, is an attempt not only to continue but also recreate the rich cultural heritage of the once prosperous and flourishing royal capital of a mighty kingdom.

During the Vijayanagar period, Dasara was being celebrated by the rulers along and their subjects with all pomp and show, which, after the fall of the empire, shifted to Mysore. As many as seven stages have been put up at different locations in and around Hampi.

Among them the most attractive would be the main stage set up near the “Yeduru Basava Mantap” (opposite the Virupaksha Temple) with the rocky terrain of hard granite boulders forming the backdrop. Illumination of these gigantic boulders would only make it more pleasing to the eyes.

The other stages are set up in the Virupaksha temple precincts, near Sasivekal Ganesh, at Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneshwari, near the make shift bus stand and also in Kaddirampur village.

On Friday, a full-fledged police station was inaugurated as part of the preparations for the utsav. A police band played at the inaugural function. Arvind Srivastav, Deputy Commissioner, inaugura- ted the police station housed in one of the mantaps near the “Yeduru Basava Mantap”.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Governor to inaugurate Hampi Utsav

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu