|
|
Portion of the fortified wall
|
You would come across the remains of huge fortification walls at a number places in Hampi. This had been primarily built as the protection barrier to a wealthy capital area.
It’s estimated by the archeologists that the city had as many as 7 concentric layers of walls around it. The outermost being about 15 kilometer from the center of the city. Now much of all these only exist in the archeologist’s conceptual plans. However portions of the innermost ones are relatively intact. This 32 kilometer inner fortification practically envelops the Royal area and the Islamic quarter of Hampi. On the ground the scattered portions of these walls may appear disconnected. But if you glance at the map the fortification plan is evident.
A few meters wide at the base the wall runs as high as 11 meters at strategic places. The basic method of construction is the same throughout the wall. But it looks like they have given more attention to the finish of the surface at portions of the wall close to the Royal area. Granite blocks of various sizes were used in the wall construction. A disconnect wall section (you spot them easily at the Royal area) is an interesting place to study the inner details of the wall construction. Larger blocks are used at the bottom and as the wall height increases smaller ones are installed. Mostly the granite was cut to fit and dressed flat on the outer surface. The middle of the two-layer construction is filled with rubbles and gravel. No cementing materials were used in the wall construction. It seems like the residual rock pieces of construction of the temples and royal buildings had been used effectively in these walls constructions.
The trace of the walls often run along the valley of a hill, sometimes climbs over the hill and at places terminates at the river shore. The walls are doted with a number of gateways to the inner core of the city. (Add a few noted gateways). At a number of places the archeology department has reconstructed the ruined walls. Apart from the giant wall that runs around the city, you can spot many the tall compound walls around the palace area especially the one forming the Zenana enclosure.
The walls are considerably less ceremonious in details as compared to the other architectures of the site.
