In Hampi, the measure of dedication

Among the countless architectural marvels in the town of ruins or Hampi are pushkarnis or the ancient water tanks.

Like many Hindu places of worship in India, tanks were an integral part of Hampi’s majestic temples, too.

Building a tank was as sacred as worshipping the gods, which was why the Vijayanagar kings gave importance to constructing anicuts and tanks across their empire.

What worked for them was the fact that Hampi, the erstwhile capital of the empire, was located in the natural basin formed by River Tungabhadra, which flows in the north-east direction.

Many embankments were built along the streams to create reservoirs of different sizes. Since Vijayanagar was one of the aridest zones in the peninsula, the kings made perfect arrangements to harvest rainwater for the use of the inhabitants.

Some of these tanks are said to have had magical properties and brought religious merit to the people.

During the 1984-85 excavation, officers of the Archaeological Survey of India stumbled upon a picturesque five-tiered tank, 22 metres wide, and 6.65 metres deep, where each tier comprised a few steps.

Archaeologists have dated it to the 15th-century AD and said it serves as a reminder of the water wisdom of the early Vijayanagar rulers.

The steps carved into the sides allowed the users to get in and out of the water quickly. The nearby Tungabhadra fed the pushkarnis with water through a series of canals and aqueducts.

Though some tanks are no longer functional, others still receive some water through the ancient water systems.

The tank located at the Royal Centre in Hampi is square on plan, lined with green diorite, has no drain, and has five landings, each connected by an ornamental, pyramidal-shaped flight of steps to get to the next lower side.

A stone aqueduct discovered while digging the ground by the archaeologists led to this spectacular find.

Structural beauty

The steps become progressively smaller as they go down. From the top, the length of each side of the step is 20.7, 16.10, 12.65, 9.2 and 6.9 m respectively.

These steps are 9, 7, 5, 3 and 1 respectively on each side, and thus the tank has one hundred steps.

Each tier is 1.05 m. The base of the tank has stone slabs placed over the sand to purify the water. After the construction of this tank, the engineers working at Hampi made arrangements for directing freshwater into it through aqueducts.

The water receptacle built for the use of the Vijayanagar royals also served as a ritualistic spot for religious functions, including the teppotsava or float festival, which featured the coracle ride of the deities.

Another unique feature of this water architecture is the technique of its construction. Each stone used in the construction had numerals, symbols and Kannada letters embellished into it.

For example, the letters ‘u’, ‘da’, ‘tu’ and ‘pa’ represent north (uttara), south (dakshina), east (purva), and west (paschima).

In five stages, there are 36 steps, and each step is assigned a Kannada letter beginning from ‘tna’ upto ‘jna’ and ‘ti’.

In addition to these numerals and Kannada letters, some symbols also have been used, according to the four directions.

Another exciting feature is the mark of measurement through symbols. The mason marks on the individual blocks indicating the direction, the row and the location of the steps reveal how much thought had gone into the layout.

All the different block stones were prepared as per the plan elsewhere and assembled at the site later.

The tank underlines the architectural skills of the workers belonging to the Vijayanagara era and continues to be a big draw with tourists.