Hampi: Threat of Delisting Averted

In the present day Hampi, among a magnificent array of monuments, one witnesses a weird mix of paradoxes. The 16th century Portuguese traveler Domingo Paes who visited Hampi exclaimed, "What I saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome …. this is the best provided city in the world…" . This sprawling imperial capital of the erstwhile south Indian empire Vijayanagar (the city of victory) is now at the best a cluster of tiny villages.