Malyavantha Raghunatha Temple situated atop Malyavantha Hill has a very unique connection between Hampi and the Ramayana era. After Sita is abducted, Rama and Lakshmana go in search of Site and end up on the edges of Kishkindha – the monkey kingdom. Rama helps Sugreeva defeat Vali and Lakshmana crowns Sugreeva as the King of Kishkindha. Rama doesn’t attend the coronation ceremony because he has taken an oath to live in the forest and not enter cities.
After this incident, both Rama and Lakshmana are eager to resume their search of Sita Devi. Sugreeva who has promised to help search for Sita suggests that they wait out the monsoon season. Thus, Rama and Lakshmana are forced to spend an entire monsoon season on the edges of Kishkindha Kingdom on the banks of river Tungabhadra.
During this period, it is believed that Rama took shelter in a cave and refused the invitation of Sugreeva to come and stay with him in his palace. The site of Malyavantha Raghunatha Temple atop the hill is believed to be the place where Rama and Lakshmana took shelter while waiting for the monsoon season to end.
The main deity or Lord Rama in the temple is seated in Yoga position while all other temples dedicated to Lord Rama show Rama, Lakshmana and Sita Devi in standing positions. It is because of the belief that Rama rested here while waiting for the monsoon season to end.
The temple has daily pooja and the priests are available in the temple during morning and evening prayer times. A parikrama (clockwise circumambulation) of the inner sanctum and you will realize that the inner sanctum of the temple is actually a cave.
The climb up the hill is not very difficult. The road is wide enough for vehicles to go all the way to the temple gate. The Temple faces east with two Gopuras – one at the eastern edge and one at the southern edge of the temple.
A short (but may be moderately difficult) climb on eastern end can give you a spectacular view of the sunrise (as can be seen in the picture below) with the Veeranjaneya Swamy Temple mantapa in the forefront and rough boulder terrain throwing a picturesque orange hue.
The western edge of the temple has a temple dedicated Prasanna Virupaksha with a Shivling inside still being worshipped. Just outside the temple, you can see a series of Shivlings and Nandi statues carved on the rocks. The western point has the most magnificent sunset viewpoint with lush green paddy fields, banana plantations and sugarcane crops in the foreground and a pinkish purple sky at the time of sunset in the horizon, it is a view definitely not to be missed.
