Hire Benakal

A rocky hill above Anegundi, across the Tungabhadra from Hampi, revered as a birthplace of Hanuman (Anjaneya) — a stepped climb to a hilltop Hanuman temple with sweeping views over the Kishkindha boulder-country.

A ruined hill fort (Kummata Durga) in the Koppal countryside associated with the 14th-century hero Kumara Rama of Kampili — bastioned walls and gateways on a boulder hill.

A sacred lake near Anegundi tied to the Ramayana (the Shabari legend) and to Shiva and Parvati — counted among the holy sarovars of India, ringed by shrines and lotus-covered water.

A scenic reservoir and lake near Sanapur on the Anegundi side of the Tungabhadra, its emerald water ringed by paddy and boulders — a popular offbeat spot for coracle rides and quiet views.

An early-Vijayanagara Vishnu temple in Anegundi village enshrining a reclining Ranganatha (Ananthasayana); Anegundi, older than Hampi, was the mythic Kishkindha and the pre-imperial core of the Vijayanagara founders.

The civic palace building of Anegundi, a tiered Indo-Islamic structure from the Vijayanagara–Qutb Shahi era in the heart of the old town. (Not to be confused with the Gagan Mahal at Vijayapura.)

A riverside temple near Anegundi linked in the Ramayana to the spot where Rama met Sugriva and where Vali was slain — a quiet Kishkindha pilgrimage point above the Tungabhadra.

The 16th-century Vijayanagara-Dravidian temple of Kanakachala Lakshmi Narasimha at Kanakagiri ("Swarnagiri"), a Nayaka palegar capital — three tiered gopuras, massive yali pillars and black-stone statues of the Kanakagiri kings and queens.

The hill temple of the goddess Huligemma (Huligyamma) at Huligi on the Tungabhadra near Munirabad — a popular Shakta pilgrimage centre with a big annual fair.

A Minor Rock Edict of Emperor Ashoka (c. 258 BCE) carved in Brahmi near Gavimath in Koppal — one of the oldest deciphered records in India, sheltered under a rock canopy.

The centuries-old Gavisiddeshwara (Gavimath) Lingayat matha in Koppal, whose January Gavisiddeshwara Jatre — sometimes called a "Kumbha Mela of South India" — draws enormous crowds for days of rituals, cattle fairs and free meals.

The old hill fort above Koppal (ancient Kopana), long reputed "impregnable" — an upper and lower fort of ramparts and bastions that passed through the Kalyani Chalukyas, Bahmani, Adil Shahi, Mughals, Marathas, Hyder Ali–Tipu and the British.