The enigmatic musical pillars of Hampi’s Vitthala temple

UNESCO World Heritage Site and once the capital of the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire, Hampi is known for its rich cultural heritage, architectural monuments, and great carvings, and a must-visit for music lovers.

The ruins of the empire contain several wonders. Among various architectural monuments in the city, the grand Vitthala Temple is located in the north extreme of Hampi near the banks of the Tungabhadra River also known as Vittala or Shree Vijay Vitthala Temple.

Constructed in Dravidian architecture, the temple is built in an extensive rectangular enclosure of 164 meters by 94.5 meters. Though the temple is said to have been built by Krishnadevaraya in the 16th century, many archaeologists surmise that its beginnings might date back to the 15th century. Every successive king has created features that are, in some way or another, unique in their style, which form this architectural history of such a wonderful monument.

The temple is dedicated to Vitthala, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and it is known for the astounding stone features that include 56 different musical pillars along the course of the huge Ranga Mantapa built in 1554 plus the magnificent Stone Chariot in the vicinity. Among those 56 pillars, one is famous as the ‘Sa-Re-Ga-Ma’ pillar and is believed to produce all seven music notes. The major attraction of the Mahamantapa is its richly carved giant monolithic pillars. The pillars have columns of smaller size, called colonnettes, carved out of them, which are believed to produce musical notes when struck.

These massive 56 pillars also provide vital support to the roof of the mantapa. These sounds are created by hitting the pillars and columns carved out of the load-bearing pillars called colonettes. The number of colonettes varies from 4 to 16 per pillar. Each pillar stands to be 3.6 meters in height and is made of solid granite. Pillar produces a different tone as it resonates with the sounds of many other musical instruments. All these musical notes can be heard clearly when someone taps those pillars. Thus, these pillars are named after instruments like mridangam, Jaltarang, Tabla, Damru, Veena, etc. according to the notes created from each pillar.

The colonettes are unfinished, slender, and have a lotus-shaped crown. These smaller pillars act like strings of the musical pillars. Tap those pillars with a thumb or sandalwood sticks, you’ll be surprised when you hear those musical notes coming out of them. Strange, isn’t it?

There are several stories adjoined behind the construction of these pillars. One of the stories says how Chinnadevi, a former courtesan and one of the wives of Krishnadevaraya, danced in this mantapa to music from the pillars. Likewise, a sculpture of a dancer on one of the pillars near the eastern entry is pointed out as a likeness of the queen. However, this cannot be true, since the mahamantapa containing these pillars was completed only in 1554 CE, according to an inscription in the temple, decades after the death of Krishnadevaraya. The structure, known as “Uyyale Mantapa” or swing pavilion, where the swing festival of the God was conducted, was built by Udagiri Timma Rajayya – a nobleman of the Aravidu Dynasty who ruled Vijayanagara at the time. Whatever the narrative says no one knows why these pillars produce those sounds.

To know about the sounds that were generated with such pillars during the earlier days, researchers chipped off the colonettes taken from the rock of those pillars and examined the composition. They were surprised to know that the pillars were not hollow, but rock solid. When measured, these pillars are uneven in height and there is considerable variation in length.Architect Srikumar M. Menon who specializes in ancient and early architecture of the Indian Sub-continent and is a faculty member at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru elaborately discussed these pillars in a candid interview with me. He clarified that it was a wrong assumption that any sound produced would be only by a hollow thing. He stressed that a solid thing too can produce sound.

Menon said, “Many of the pillars were destroyed when the Vijayanagara lost the battle and the Deccan Sultanate invaded the place.” He stressed that according to most archaeologists, the tonal quality of the pillars is accidental, but he believes that they were intentional. There is evidence that these pillars were experimental creations to generate musical notes. Citing the example of musicologist Pichu Sambamoorthy, Menon said that Pichu vouched that these musical pillars were deliberately fashioned.

Menon said that this was not the first instance when such musical sounds were produced by stones. In fact, during the late Stone Age from 3000 BC onwards, there were ringing or bell stones or lithophones. The stones had musical sounds and rang like a bell while tapped on or when they were struck.

Further, he said that as a world heritage site, the government is preserving the site without reconstructing the destroyed pillars. Hampi’s Narasimha statue too was destroyed during the invasion in 1565 when Vijayanagara was conquered. UNESCO doesn’t approve of altering the site or structure at World Heritage sites, Menon stated.

Architectural splendour,  Vitthala Temple has a huge compound and pretty pavilions to long halls and temples. It is believed that part of the Mahamantapa hall was destroyed by the conquerors in 1565. The part of the Mahamantapa which is axially aligned with the sanctum was destroyed by the invading armies, while the remaining portions are relatively intact. Lovely sculptures of musicians and dancers adorn some of the columns. The columns of the mahamantapa of the temple are carved with sculptures of mythical creatures called Yalis which are part lion, part elephant, and part horse.

Being one of the greatest monuments of Hampi, the temple is surely a place of pilgrimage for heritage enthusiasts and tourists alike who would be able to journey through time to unravel its mysteries. These enigmatic pillars are a testimony to the sculpture skills possessed by the artisans of the Vijayanagara Empire.