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The final leg of our trip was in the state of Karnatika. As in most Indian states, they spoke a different language, Kannada (pronounced like the country "Canada" with an Indian accent). This was by far my favorite part of the trip, with its grand palaces and ruins, traditional countryside, and progressive, modern capital of Bangalore. Indian history is often divided into the history of the north and the history of the south, as these two areas were often ruled by different cultures and/or kingdoms. So it was great to experience great Hindu architecture and explore the old Hindu kingdoms of the south. Even I was shocked to see some places that I thought were now destroyed and only still existed in stories.

Our flight into Bangalore, Karnatika from Trivandrum was 3-4 hours late which cut our time short in Mysore, but luckily we made it to the town in time to check out the magnificent palace. We killed some time at the airport talking to some Christian Missionaries from Colorado mom recognized from the hotel, who were interesting (except they had been in India for weeks now, and literally knew nothing about Hinduism. You would think one would at least read up on the local religion before attempting to change the people, especially a religion thousands upon thousands of years old. But it ended up being an interesting conversation and exchange of information).

Our new driver for Karnatika was awesome, and sped the whole way to make sure we got to see the palace. The Mysore palace is where the Maharajas of the Kingdom of Mysore ruled (a blood line that is still intact today). The main palace, after being destroyed and rebuilt throughout history, now stands at over a hundred years old and is the most luxurious building I have ever seen, easily rivaling the palaces of Europe. You can't take pictures of the inside, but every inch is covered in intricate carvings, paintings, gold leaf, silver plating, and stained glass; every archway, doorway, and window is a piece of artwork and the floors are covered in a mosaic of gemstones making various patterns and images. The travel book calls the inside of the palace "gaudy", but I think one would be hard-pressed to find a palace in the world that wasn't (I think that was the point of palaces of the past). The Palace sits on acres and acres of gardens, including twelve different temples and elephant and camel stables. We missed Republic Day by just one day, otherwise we would have seen the palace by night illuminated with 97,000 lightbulbs on the outside alone. Not only is the exterior an obvious mix of ancient to modern Indian, Mughal, and Western (mainly Roman) architecture, the inside too is a blend of all different places and styles. My favorite part was the gateway to all religions, that had a Mughal (Muslim) style arch that lead to Catholic style doors, topped with Jain and Budhist overhangs, that opened into a small Mandir for a Krishna Murti. The entrance fee to see the palace?... 5 rupees (thats about ten cents in the US$). Mysore is also known for its authentic Sandalwood factories (making sculptures, incense, and oils) and its silks...which meant more shopping. Luckily we had gotten in town late, so there wasn't too much time to sit in the silk shops. In the morning we headed up to Chamundi Hill and its temple that overlooked all of Mysore. It was 4:30 in the morning though, so all you could see were the city lights, but plenty of monkeys were already awake hanging around the temple.

We left so early because we had a full day of driving through the rural Karnatic countryside on pothole ridden "roads" and gravel paths to the ruins of Hampi. The Karnatic countryside is picturesque though, with traditional farming communities, huge Banyan trees, wandering nomads with huge herds of goats, cattle driven carts, and bouldering hills (sometimes topped with modern windmills). On the way we stopped at two temples of the Hoysala Empire, one built in about 1100 AD (Channekeshava Temple in Belur) and the other finished in 1200 AD (Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebid). The "dark ages" of Medevial times is truly an era to describe the West, because in the East, this was an incredibly prosperous era.

The detail of the temples is amazing. Every pillar is unique and different, the exterior of the building is covered in intricate carvings and statues (each unique) that depict various stories and deities of Hindu tradition. What you see now is just the skeleton of what what the temples used to be, for they were once painted with great detail to bring the carvings to life, fine silks were draped all over, and precious metal statues guarded every doorway. After a thousand years, some parts have been plundered, the paint is gone, and many statues have been taken, but to walk around and through the temples is no less awe-inspiring. The temples were surrounded with larger statues and mini-temples (one was a large face, and I could not help but think it was going to come to life and say "Welcome to the Legends of the Hidden Temple", I wish it would have). The guide showed us one carving of a Western dressed figure, claiming "they copied us", another carving of what really looked like missiles, and yet another that had people with helmets that looked like astronauts (all of this made 1,000 year ago). It has long been known the interesting references in some of the scriptures and ancient stories (which I am assuming these sculptures are depicting) of incredible weaponry, space travel, and more. I think it is probably mis-communicated due to thousands of years of oral traditions, some things lost in translation, and the still current disparity in all cultures between poetic and literary expression and literal truth. Either way, it was interesting to see and would probably make a great History Channel conspiracy/prophecy documentary (there are similar "out-of-place" images in some Egyptian hieroglyphics). All these are pictured at the bottom. The temples were great pit-stops on the loooooong drive to Hampi, but I would have sat in a car for a week to see the old ruins of Vijanayger, and the views on the drive there weren't so bad either. Next, we go to Hampi.