A photographic art book titled Hampi: The Rituals of Time, created by eminent photographer Saibal Das, was unveiled in Bengaluru, drawing art enthusiasts, historians, and cultural scholars to celebrate the living heritage of the Vijayanagara empire. The launch highlighted Hampi’s complex interplay of art, rituals, mythology, and landscape captured through an immersive visual narrative. Described as both a cultural archive and an artistic journey, the book attempts to portray not just the archaeological grandeur of Hampi but also the evolving religious rituals and human interactions around its historic monuments. Attendees praised the effort as an important documentation of India’s continuing heritage.
The book also highlights lesser-known ritual spaces that often lie beyond popular tourist routes in Hampi. Saibal Das shared that many of the images were captured in quiet courtyards, small shrines and temple kitchens that are rarely recognised as heritage hotspots. He said that understanding these intimate spaces is essential to comprehending how sacred geography functions in a living heritage site. These areas may not appear monumental, yet they nurture spiritual continuity through shared labour, communal cooking, distribution of prasada and local offerings. By documenting these everyday acts, the book expands the idea of heritage to include invisible labour that sustains devotion.
Curators who attended the launch remarked that the book’s visual rhythm reveals how time behaves differently in sacred landscapes. They observed that rituals impose their own sense of chronology, independent of the modern pace of tourism or academic study. While tourists rush through monuments, the rituals demand patience, repetition and attention to detail. This rhythm is reflected in multiple images that show priests preparing lamps, flower vendors waiting for worshippers and devotees crossing the river with offerings. According to experts, such images resist hurried consumption and encourage viewers to recognise that heritage is lived slowly, repeatedly and mindfully.
Public discussions at the event explored how cultural memory survives in places where monumental history has collapsed. Scholars pointed out that while the Vijayanagara empire fell centuries ago, the cultural ecosystem remains robust through continuity of worship. This suggests that empires may perish, but faith practices adapt and endure by integrating with communities. The book portrays this idea by foregrounding people, rather than kings or legends. It captures the persistence of culture in the hands of ordinary devotees whose relationship with Hampi is shaped not by historical nostalgia but by immediate spiritual relevance. Their participation keeps the ruins alive with purpose.
Art educators present at the launch suggested that the book could be integrated into creative and academic courses for architecture, fine arts, photography and anthropology students. They argued that visual interpretation of heritage nurtures interdisciplinary thinking and encourages students to examine cultural spaces with sensitivity rather than objectification. When young professionals learn to analyse heritage through multiple lenses, they become better equipped to make ethical and informed decisions about conservation, design and public engagement. Teachers added that such books are essential learning tools in a time when digital consumption often reduces heritage to aesthetic fragments detached from cultural context.
Many participants expressed hope that the success of Hampi: The Rituals of Time would inspire similar artistic research on other heritage landscapes in India. They mentioned locations such as Badami, Pattadakal, Srirangapatna and Kanchipuram, where worship practices coexist with historical monuments. Documenting these living ecosystems, they said, could help shift public perception from seeing heritage as a tourist commodity to recognising it as a community practice. They also emphasised that collaborative projects involving scholars, photographers and local communities could influence heritage policy in meaningful ways. By placing lived culture at the centre, art has the potential to reshape preservation priorities.
Background: Documenting Living History Through Photography
According to Saibal Das, the book was conceptualised as a long-term study that captured how ancient temples and iconography in Hampi are still embedded in everyday lives of people. Das explained that Hampi is not merely a relic to be studied as a fallen empire, but a living ecosystem where rituals, festivals and community worship continue in the shadow of monumental ruins. He emphasised that documenting these cultural layers through photography helps show history as emotion rather than just information. The photographs therefore include priests performing centuries-old rituals, pilgrims interacting with deities, and ordinary moments unfolding against dramatic architectural remains.
Visual Portrayal of Rituals, Landscapes and Human Interaction
The book combines landscape frames, portraiture, architectural close-ups and ritualistic sequences, offering viewers an immersive understanding of how time influences sacred spaces. Saibal Das spoke about his attempt to explore the “tempo of worship,” which continues unchanged despite the ruinous setting. Many of the photographs depict the Virupaksha Temple, the Tungabhadra River ghats, the chariot festival, and traditional processions that bring life to monuments typically seen in silence by tourists. Instead of prioritising grand vistas alone, Das chose to capture quiet interactions, gestures of reverence, and daily routines around ancient shrines. These narrative techniques underline how heritage remains alive through practice, not preservation alone.
The Launch Event Draws Curators, Scholars and Art Collectors
The launch event was attended by curators from Karnataka’s major museums, historians, architects, art collectors and members of photography circles. Discussions centred on how initiatives like this expand understanding of heritage beyond tourism perspectives. Speakers observed that the book arrives at a time when India’s archaeological spaces are often discussed only for economic prospects or visitor footfalls. The focus on rituals repositions Hampi as a cultural organism rather than merely a visual spectacle. Curators suggested the book could be used as a reference for museums, cultural sociologists and students of heritage management, as it offers interpretive visual documentation rather than mere illustration.
Role of Photography in Cultural Storytelling Highlighted
A panel discussion during the event explored the role of photography in retelling historical narratives. Experts noted that photographers like Das offer a bridge between academic heritage studies and public imagination by drawing attention to elements that are often unnoticed. They stressed that photography can be both poetic and informative, capturing fragments that text-based history may overlook. When such work is compiled into books, it becomes accessible to wider audiences who may not read scholarly essays but engage strongly with visual storytelling. The book was described as a valuable medium that democratizes heritage knowledge through art.
Relevance for Karnataka’s Heritage Conservation Work
Officials associated with Karnataka’s heritage conservation initiatives attended the launch and welcomed the book’s contribution. They noted that artistic studies encourage public involvement in protecting cultural sites, especially when images reveal how communities continue to engage with them. While archaeological development often focuses on structural restoration, cultural preservation demands attention to practices, rituals and community memory. They remarked that documenting living religious practices in historic spaces supports the case for safeguarding non-material heritage. The book, they said, reinforces the notion that heritage belongs to people, not just to monuments, and its survival depends on lived traditions.
Hampi’s Ritual Identity Often Overlooked by Tourism Narratives
Cultural historians present at the event stated that Hampi is usually discussed as a destination known for massive architectural remains and boulder-filled landscapes, but its religious ecology receives comparatively less attention. They observed that visitors often perceive Hampi as a ruin rather than as an active spiritual landscape. The book counters this misconception by placing rituals in the centre of interpretation. Scholars pointed out that the continued worship at the Virupaksha temple, the Malyavanta Raghunatha shrine, and small village deities around Hampi demonstrate the continuity of faith that transcends the fall of the Vijayanagara empire. This perspective deepens understanding of how heritage survives across centuries.
Emphasis on Artistic Research in Heritage Documentation
Photographers and curators emphasized that works like Hampi: The Rituals of Time represent artistic research rather than travel photography. They explained that the book was not created through short visits or aesthetic sightseeing, but through sustained observation, relationship building with priests and devotees, and an understanding of the socio-religious context. Such research-led photography, they argued, brings nuance to heritage dialogues by acknowledging lived realities. Instead of framing heritage as static beauty, the photographer positions it as dynamic, shaped by contemporary human action. This philosophy challenges conventional ideas of preservation that isolate heritage from the communities who sustain it.
Future Exhibitions and Academic Collaborations Planned
Publishers associated with the book stated that exhibitions are being planned in Bengaluru, Hampi, New Delhi and Mumbai, along with possible academic collaborations with institutions focusing on archaeology, anthropology and visual arts. Discussions are underway to expand the project into a travelling exhibition and public lecture series on ritual-centric heritage documentation. The publisher also expressed interest in producing translated editions to make the work available beyond English-speaking audiences. Scholars suggested that regional versions could help local communities recognize the value of their traditions in preserving heritage. Such collaborations may position visual documentation as a key pillar in cultural research.
Turning Art into Heritage Advocacy
Speakers at the event expressed that projects like this can act as advocacy tools when policy discussions tend to treat monuments as isolated assets. Visual narratives depicting worshippers, festival participants and caretakers show that heritage is shaped by ordinary citizens, not just historians or governments. Artists therefore become cultural mediators, showing how infrastructure decisions affect practices, and how tourism policies intersect with community spaces. Several participants advised that the book could spark conversations on improving visitor behaviour, protecting ritual zones, and developing heritage-sensitive tourism models. Art, they argued, reveals heritage values that statistics and reports often overlook.
Conclusion
Hampi: The Rituals of Time stands out as a reminder that history is not confined to ruins or textbooks, but exists in gestures, worship, storytelling and collective memory. The book expands public understanding of Hampi’s identity by recognising that cultural practices sustain heritage beyond architectural preservation. Saibal Das’s work blends artistic expression with ethnographic sensitivity, reinforcing that documentation must reflect not only what monuments look like, but what they mean to communities. The launch event in Bengaluru highlighted a growing aspiration to protect living heritage, suggesting that photography, when rooted in research, can become a meaningful instrument of cultural conservation.
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