Huchappayana Matha

Huchappayana Matha is a temple to Virupaksha, a form of Shiva, in the fortress town of Anegundi on the Tungabhadra, across the river from Hampi. It goes back to the 14th century, when it served Shaiva worshippers, and the sage Vidyaranya later turned it into a matha, a monastery for Hindu ascetics.

The building is admired for its black-stone pillars, pavilions and carved dancing figures. Vidyaranya, a leading Advaita scholar of the time, is said to have written his treatise Panchadasi here, and tradition holds that it was here that he met Harihara and Bukka, the brothers who went on to found the Vijayanagara Empire. Pilgrims still gather at the temple on festival days.