After enjoying the view of Tungabhadra river
crossing at Talvar Ghatta, you walk a few yards to Huchhappayya Matt. Huchhappayaa
Matt is easily the most ornate of structures here in Anegundi. A matt or matha
is similar to a monastery or an ashram. Vijaynagar sculpture is mostly
characterized by the relief carvings on the pillars but the matt has more.
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| Huchhappayya Matt at Anegundi Karnataka |
The structure looks like the many mantapas you have seen here. But it soon gets interesting. The
structure with a rectangular plan and plain pillars is two storeyed just like
Talvar Ghatta. In the centre, the structure rises upto
the first floor with a small mantapa on top. There are several nandis placed on
a platform. They do not appear in-situ and were probably brought from different
temples.
Looking up, you can see the four beam members forming
the hollow on the top ornamented quite richly. It is not the usual Vijaynagar
sculpture – the sculpture is fine and detailed. There are dancing figures of
women – are they performing Dandiya? There are more male and female dancers while
some play instruments. Then there are hunting scenes – you can see a prey
hanging by its legs being carried on a pole. Battle scenes have warriors riding
horses and foot soldiers carrying shields. You go through your Hampi photos –
yes these beams are unusual and special.
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| The Lathe Turned Pillars |
The surprise waits on the rear side. Here on the
eastern side a colonnade has been erected, possibly at a later date, with surprise,
lathe turned pillars. The pillars seem to be built of soapstone. These pillars
look out of place among the standard plain granite Hampi pillars. Such lathe
cut pillars are a feature of Chalukya, Hoysala and Kakatiya temples that you
have seen in places like Lakkundi, Belur and Warangal, but never in Hampi or
Anegundi. Hazaar Rama Temple in Hampi has black granite or soapstone pillars
but they are not lathe cut. This is quite a mystery. Was there an earlier
Chalukyan temple in the vicinity and these seven pillars harvested from it?
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| Talvar Ghatta, Collapsed Bridge and Tungabhadra River can be seen |
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| View from road going to Anegundi Village |
Before Bukka and Harihar moved south from
Anegundi and across Tungabhadra to establish Vijaynagar Empire in Hampi, Anegundi
was the regional power centre of earlier dynasties like Hoysalas, Chalukyas and
Satavahanas. So it is possible that Anegundi had some earlier temples and these
pillars were repurposed and used here. However in your several visits to Hampi,
you don’t remember seeing any remnants of Chalukya / Hoysalas temples or
soapstone / schist construction. Did Hampi too had some Chalukyan era temples which
were brought down? This is highly unlikely. So while the Royal Enclosure of
Hampi was totally razed by the combined armies of Deccan Sultanates, the
temples like Hazaar Ram, Krishna, Virupaksh, Vitthal, Raghunath barely look
blemished. Such Chalukyan temples probably existed north of Tungabhadra only in
Anegundi.
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| Lets do Dandiya |
Coming back to the beam with women doing Dandiya
or Raas Lila; is it possible that the beam too is from a Chalukyan temple?
Chalukyas later moved to Gujarat becoming Solankis - same Solankis who built
the incredible vavs across Gujarat. And is this how dandiya dance migrated to
Gujarat? Possibilities are endless and exciting.
Though the deity is missing, it could have been a
Shiv temple since several nandis are seen and also because Huchhappayya means
Shiv. It is also possible that the temple is named after Huchhappayya, a sage
who meditated here. The setting and the missing deity gives it more
plausibility. Also, since the structure uses recycled temple parts - had it
been a temple or gudi, the structure would not have used repurposed pillars.
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| A guru surrounded by devotees, depicted in a wall
painting at Anegondi, January 1801. ‘Painting on the Roof of the Jungum Mutt at
Anagoondy.’ Latin verse below picture |
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Composite animal figures depicted in wall
paintings at Anegondi, January 1801
|
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| Column in the math at Anegondi. January 1801.
‘Elevation of a Pillar in the Jungum Mutt at Anagoondy - All Sketches Courtesy
British Library Online Gallery |
Okay, there is another surprise now. While going
through the online gallery of British Library you come across sketches made of
ceiling paintings at this matt. Paintings on the ceiling! Now you again scour
through your photos but you are just not able to discern any colour. The description of one of the sketch says – “The Uchappaya Matha, a dilapidated
two-storeyed structure to the south of the village, is of interest for the
fragments of Vijayanagara paintings preserved on the ceiling beams. The major
part of the paintings, though, no longer exist. This drawing depicts some of
the figures from these paintings. In 'A survey of Painting in the Deccan' of 1937,
Stella Kramrisch wrote, "The paintings on the ceiling of the Uchayappa
Matha at Anegundi to-day present a black and white effect with some red lines
of the preliminary drawing left. The colours have disappeared but for an eight
petalled lotus with a yellow centre, surrounded by red, on a blue ground in a
niche of the wall. Traces of the same colours are preserved in the spandrils
and between the pilasters of the wall. Such a fresh blast of colour must be
surmised also in the paintings of the ceiling, constructed of large stone
slabs. These are covered with a thin white plaster. The entire ceiling, it
seems, of the pillared Matha had been painted...In the Anegundi paintings,
which can not be prior to the third quarter of the sixteenth century, the
figures to a considerable extent adhere in body and movement to classical
coinage. They have powerful limbs and vehement gestures...The faces however are
almost always in profile or front view. Their firm outline conveys mediaeval
rigour...".” Amazing isn’t it!
So with time the paintings are gone. You don’t
remember any other Vijaynagar structure with paintings. This matha is full of
surprises.
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| Amazing Anegundi |
The matha has one of the best settings on both
sides of the river. The temple enclosure sits in the middle of sylvan surroundings
– lush paddy fields, swaying coconut trees and the boulders forming the
backdrop. You can spend an entire afternoon here all alone. This is a piece of
heaven. Anegundi and Hampi are blessed with far too many pieces of heaven. And
this is just the beginning of their discovery.
Getting There: Anegundi is about 15 kms south
east of Gangavathi taluk of Koppal district in Central Karnataka. Or take a
boat or coracle ride from Hampi side just beyond Vitthal Temple
References:
Related Anegundi Links:
