Hampi & Anegundi

Hampi is a village situated on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra River in Hospet taluka of Bellary District in Karnataka. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire whose hold spanned the two coasts of peninsular India and reached from the north of the Deccan to the southern regions of Tamilnadu during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Today the ruins of this empire remain in poignant eloquence.

Anegundi or Anegondi actually means Elephant Gorge (Ane = elephant; Gundi = Gorge). The depth of the river in this area is of the height of an elephant, making it a convenient location to bathe elephants. Gundi also means ‘group’ since a stable was located here one could see elephant herds and hence the name Anegundi. Anegundi is the cradle city of Vijayanagara.