Penukonda — A forgotten capital, a ruined hamlet on a hillock and an over enthusiastic guide..
A friend of mine and I planned on a short bike trip to Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh one weekday in the winter of 2016. A few pit stops on the way and after a few sores on the bum, we made it to the not so difficult to miss entrance to the city. Why is the entrance to the town not difficult to miss? Thanks to the giant statue of the man who built his second capital here, Mr.Kirshnadevaraya…
This capital city of the Vijayanagar empire has not retained the grandeur or the majesty of Hampi. The town is rough, the people are tough and the surrounding landscape is unyielding.We first made our way to the Gagan Mahal, the palace of his lordship Mr.Krishnadeva. While this might not have been called the Gagan Mahal during the Vijayanagara period, subsequent rulers named it so and the name has stuck. A simple structure with Indo-Islamic architecture, this Mahal was perhaps used more as a pleasure palace than an actual king’s adobe. Whilst subsequent kings may have made some structural changes to the Mahal keeping in mind the aesthetics of the original Mahal, the local administration in all its wisdom has whitewashed the whole place. It now looks like an old school harem more than a Mahal (do I know how old school harems look like? That’s upto one’s imagination!). A 500 year old building might just have been restored better and not just made up like the ladies of the Harem!
Right at the entrance of the town, painted in bright yellow is the phone number of an “official government licensed guide”. We contact him and thankfully the gentleman talks Kannada and agrees to show us around. With our bum sores still fresh, we hop on the bike along with the guide, and the three of us roam around the town on one bike like 16 year old’s going on a cat calling trip across town for the first time.
The guide educates us on the history of the town. There are apparently 365 temples in existence in the town, with most of them still standing. Unfortunately, most have them have been repainted by over enthusiastic townsfolk and most of the temples have lost the original charm that one finds in Hampi. Some of them are attractive and the guide informed us that some temples have the Hoysala, Kakatiya and the Vijayanagara styles. He was learned enough to tell us what styles represent which dynasty and that was quite interesting. But most of what the guides tell you sound like stories the townsfolk made up after the empires crumbled. Stories of secret passages from the queens house to the Mahal, of Mr.Krishnadeva’s gym, his personal work out equipment (large round stones), where and how the queen used to bathe, how she would communicate with the King on the hill using pigeons and so on. What makes you believe in such stories is the conviction in which one tells you and the man had conviction. A LOT of it!
The Hillock and the post office
One building that is more charming and interesting than Gagan Mahal is the town’s post office. This colonial era building has been surprisingly well maintained and not yet fallen prey to cheap colors and white washing by the local authorities. The building reminds one of Malgudi days!
On one of the rocky hills surrounding the town, stands the ruins of what might perhaps have been a once rich hamlet. An adobe for a King, a hamlet of richness, of opulence, of prosperity, a hamlet of poetry. At places like this, no guide needs to tell you a story, no guide needs to make up stories. The dilapidated buildings become the story tellers, the grass becomes the quill and the sky the canvas. This hamlet tells you stories of dances at dusk, of ghazal in the moonlight,of grand festivals, of colour and music, of stolen romance, of wise counsel, of treachery, of deceit and of decay.
The road leading to this hamlet on the hill is challenging to say the least. Only motorcycles or a good 4*4 would maneuver the dusty road. For the trekking enthusiasts, steps lead the way to the top of the hill and we were told this trek takes 2–3 hours to reach the top. For us personally, the ride to the top was exciting and the most boyish thing we could do!
