Virupaksha temple

The Virupaksha temple is the oldest one of the 116 Temples in Hampi. It is the first destination for pilgrims and tourists, and remains a Hindu worship site even today. Parts of the Shiva, Pampa and Durga temples existed in the 11th-century; it was extended during the Vijayanagara Empire era. The temple is a collection of smaller temples, a regularly repainted, 50-metre high gopuram, a Hindu monastery dedicated to Vidyaranya of Advaita Vedanta tradition.

The temple faces eastwards, aligning the sanctums of the Shiva and Pampa Devi temples to the sunrise; a large gopuram marks its entrance. The gopuram leads into a rectangular court that ends in another, smaller gopuram dated to 1510 CE. To its south side is a 100-column hall with Gods and deities related reliefs on all four sides of each pillar. Connected to this public hall is a community kitchen, a feature found in other major Hampi temples. A channel is cut into the rock to deliver water to the kitchen and the feeding hall. The courtyard after the small gopuram has dipa-stambha (lamp pillar) and Nandi.

The courtyard after the small gopuram leads to the main mandapa of the Shiva temple, which consists of the original square mandapa and a rectangular extension composed of sixteen piers built by Krishnadevaraya. The ceiling of the open hall above the mandapa is painted, showing the Shaivism legend relating to Shiva-Parvati marriage; another section shows the legend of Rama-Sita of the Vaishnavism tradition. A third section depicts the legend of the love god Kama shooting an arrow at Shiva to get him interested in Parvati, and the fourth section shows the Advaita Hindu scholar Vidyaranya being carried in a procession.

The sanctum of the temple has a Shiva linga with a face embossed with brass.  The compound has a northern gopura, smaller than the eastern gopura, that opens to the Manmatha (Kamdev) tank and a pathway to the river with stone reliefs related to the Ramayana. To the west of this tank are shrines of Shaktism and Vaishnavism traditions, such as those for Durga and Vishnu respectively. 

According to local tradition, the Virupaksha is the only temple that continued to be a gathering place of Hindus and frequented by pilgrims after the destruction of Hampi in 1565. The temple attracts large crowds; an annual mela with a chariot procession to mark the marriage of Virupaksha and Pampa is held in spring, as is the solemn festival of Maha Shivratri.