Kadalekalu Ganesha

Kadalekalu Ganesha is a shrine on the slope of Hemakuta Hill in Hampi built around a 4.5 m figure of Ganesha cut from one boulder, among the largest sculptures at the site. It belongs to the period when the Vijayanagara Empire ruled from Hampi, between the 14th and 16th centuries.

The name comes from 'kadale', the Kannada word for Bengal gram, because the god's round belly is said to look like the grain. In front of the inner shrine is an open hall of tall, slender square pillars in the classic Vijayanagara manner, their shafts carved with figures and themes from mythology. The hall frames the giant image as visitors walk in.