VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE - ART
AND CULTURE
News: Portion of Hampi’s Virupaksha
temple collapses: What is its history and the threats it faces today?
What's in the news?
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A portion of the Virupaksha temple in Karnataka
collapsed following torrential rains recently.
Virupaksha Temple:
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It is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Virupaksha, a form of Lord Shiva.
Location:
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It is located in Hampi, in the Vijayanagara district of Karnataka.
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It is part of the Group of Monuments at Hampi,
designated as a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
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It is situated on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra River.
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According to history, this temple has been
functioning uninterruptedly ever since its inception in the 7th century AD and
is one of India's oldest functioning temples.
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Originally a small, humble shrine, it was expanded
to its present magnificence during the reign of the Vijayanagara kings, though
additions to its temple were also made by the Chalukyan and Hoysala eras.
Architecture:
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It is built in Vesara
architecture style.
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Hampi's only continuously functioning temple, it
includes a sanctum sanctorum, pillared
halls – the most elaborate one consisting of 100 pillars – antechambers, grand
gopurams, and a number of smaller shrines, along with a temple kitchen and
administrative offices.
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It has three
gopurams - the eastern gopuram is the largest (nine storeys and 50 meters
tall); the other two are the smaller gopurams on the inner east and inner
northern sides of the temple complex.
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Beautiful sculptures
of many Hindu Gods adorn the outer faces of the gopurams.
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Apart from these, builders utilized physics principles such as Rectilinear
Light Theory and the pinhole camera effect, along with mathematical concepts
like fractals, geometry, complex mathematics, and the Fibonacci number
sequence, to construct the temple.
● The most interesting part of the structure is the inverted pinhole image of its tower present on the inner wall.