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Sasivekalu Ganesha
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Thanks to the resemblance the giant monolithic Ganesha statue is locally called Sasivekalu(mustard seed)Ganesha. This is located on the southern foothill of the Hemakuta Hill.
In Hindu mythology Lord Ganesha (also known as Ganapathi or Vinayaka) is notorious for his food habit. One day he ate so much of food that his tummy almost busted. He just caught a snake and tied it around his tummy as a belt to save his tummy from bursting.
On this statue you can see the snake carved around his tummy. Also he holds the goad, pasha (noose), and his broken tusk. The hand which holds modak (a kind of sweet ball) is broken and not reconstructed. This monolithic statue carved out of a huge boulder measures about 2.4 meters (8 feet). An open pavilion is build around the statue. According to inscriptions found nearby this pavilion was built by a trader from Chandragiri (in present day Andhra Pradesh)in 1506 AD, in memory of one of the Vijayanagara king – Narasimha II (1491-1505 AD)
A bit north of Sasivekalu Ganesha is another giant statue of Ganesha, called The Kadalekalu Ganesha. A bit south of Sasivekalu Ganesha is the Vishnupada shrine. All these are walkable from one to another and can be covered in 30-45 minutes.
Just in front of Sasivekalu Ganesha shrine you can see a huge site map of Hampi installed by the archeology department.
No admission fee &
Photography allowed free of cost.
