Hampi Festival, locally known as Hampi Utsav, is a state sponsored annual cultural extravaganza organized at the Hampi ruins site.
Hampi Festival Calendar : This year’s Hampi festival will be held on 3 (Saturday), 4 (Sunday) and 5 (Monday) November 2007.
If you are interested in the stage performances, folk arts, village sports, exhibitions or the carnival like procession at the end of the festival, visit Hampi during the festival season. Keep in mind that Hampi Festival is a crowded affair as well - means overbooked accommodation (and overpriced too!), packed buses and trains. The numerous ‘VIP’s visiting the site to inaugurate the programs and the tighter security arrangements doesn’t help either.
On the other hand if you would like to explore the Hampi ruins in all its serenity and the characteristic eerie ambient, give the festival seasons a miss.
Schedule & Venue:
The events are typically held for 3 days during the first week of November every year. Most of the venues are in and around Hampi ruins site, generally within a walking distance from one to another.
Generally the programs start by the evening and last till midnight. That means, you can spend time during the day sightseeing and watch the performances in the evening.
The light and sound show called “Karnataka Vaibhava” (The Glory of Karnataka) is the prime attraction among the programs. Many dozens of artists performs in a fast moving sequence spanning a series of open stages. The venue is the long open area near the Elephant Stables.
Hampi Utsav costumes : Shiva and Durga
Photograph courtesy : Diego Wyllie
The Song and Drama division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Bangalore organizes the show.
Apart from the local and national artists, folk artist from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and South Africa too are scheduled to perform in Hampi Festival.
Three days programs includes performance by artists of national repute such as Anuradha Podwal (playback singer) and Hamsalekha (music director), Maya Rao, (Danseuse),
Sridhar and Anuradha (Bharatanatya (classical dance)), Ganapati Bhat (Hindustani classical), Madhav Gudi (Hindustani classical), Geeta Javadekar (Hindustani classical) , Narasimhalu Wadwati (Clarinet), Mysore Manjunath (Violin).
An exhibition-cum-sale of local products too is arranged as part of Hampi Festival. However these stalls will be functioning for 15 days (3 November to 18th November). The location is close to the Kadirampura Village on the Kadirampura-Hampi Road.
Close to the exhibition ground in Kadirampura is the venue for wrestling competition.
The principal stage of the festival is on the Hampi Bazaar , close to the Monolithic Bull statue.
You can see a detailed program schedule of Hampi Utsav 2007 (in Kannada) at the Bellary District website. To download the pdf file (2.8Mb) right click and Save Target As…
The grand finale on the third day is Janapada Kalavahini , a colorful procession by the folk artists. The procession typically starts from the Uddana Veerabhadra Temple and ends at the Hampi bus stand area, close to the Virupaksha Temple. And the bus stand ground will be to open stage for the folk art performances.
Another added attraction during the festival is the illuminated monuments, especially the inside of Vittala Temple. A book fair, photography and the archeology exhibitions are additional bonuses.
Hampi Utsav dancer.
Photograph courtesy : Diego Wyllie
Heritage Walk:
Practically this is a guided tour of this ruined city. The Heritage walk is organized as part of the festival.
The sprawling nature of the monuments make the Heritage Walk a day long affair (9 am to 7.30 pm). The circuit starts from Virupaksha temple in the morning and ends at the specially illuminated Vittala Temple complex by the evening. En-route, the Heritage Walk covers major highlights of Hampi like the Lotus Mahal, Royal Enclosure , Elephant Stables and so forth.
The Heritage walk is planned to start with a folk art called Dollu Kunitha (a popular drum dance accompanied by singing). Each batch of the participants of the walk will be lead by a qualified guide.
The fee for the Heritage Walk is Rs500 (USD 12) per head. The short conveyances part of the Heritage Walk and lunch (presumably with a touch of the local culinary delights) is included in the package.
The Heritage Camp: This is a 2-3 day affair that includes a full day Heritage Walk and also some short side trips to the nearby attractions. The package includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for the stay plus the accommodation. The local conveyance too is arranged as part of the Heritage Camp. A pleasant deviation from the otherwise heritage theme of the camp is the excursion to the nearby Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary (the only Sloth Bear Sanctuary in India)
The camps are scheduled from 1st November to 10th November. The package is priced at Rs3000 (about USD 75) per head .
For Heritage Camp / Heritage Walk booking contact Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority (HWHAMA) office at Kamalapura, near the Archeological Survey of India Museum. If you are coming from Hospet by bus/ Auto-rickshaw, ask to drop you at Kamalapura village. This is in fact a couple of kilometer before the Hampi village which is the center point of the attractions.
Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority (HWHAMA) office at Kamalapura
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