File:Hampi, Elephant Stables (9842126643).jpg

Hampi, Elephant Stables See also www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6338261368/

Hampi is a village in northern Karnataka, India. It is located within the ruins of the city of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other monuments belonging to the old city. The ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi.

Most of Vijayanagara lies on the south bank of the Tungabhadra River. The city was built around the religious center of the Virupaksha temple complex at Hampi.

The city of Vijayanagara was originally encompassed by seven lines of fortifications. These fortifications had a large number of bastions and gateways. The seventh and the innermost fortification enclosed the main city and is the best preserved. The extant monuments of Vijayanagara or Hampi can be divided into religious, civil and military buildings. While most of the monuments at Hampi are from the Vijayanagara period, a small proportion may be assigned to pre-Vijayanagara times. The Jain temples on Hemakuta hill, the two Devi shrines and some other structures in the Virupaksha temple complex predate the Vijanagara empire. The earliest amongst them, the Shaiva shrines with their stepped pyramidal vimanas or superstructures, date to the early Chalukyan period around ninth-tenth century AD.

The Elephant Stables are a set of large stables to house the ceremonial elephants of the royal household. The area in front was a parade ground for the elephants and for troops. This structure shows Islamic influence in its domes and arched gateways. The guards' barracks are located right next to the elephant stables.