Unknown miscreants desecrate Shivalinga in Hampi World Heritage Site

Miscreants desecrated the main Shivalinga of the ‘Koti Linga’, located amid the rocks in the Tungabhadra at the Hampi World Heritage Site. The desecration was discovered on Wednesday, June 29, 2017.

A deep cut has been made on the upper portion of the Shivalinga. Attempts were also made to disfigure another Shivalinga within the premises. 

The Koti Linga is located in Chakratheertha, a sacred place of the Shaiva sect during the Vijayanagar empire period. 

Hampi is a busy tourist spot, and home guards are deployed to look over the ancient structures. However, it is reported that the home guards were deployed elsewhere during the Ramzan festival and the structures could have been vandalised in their absence.

According to a report by The Hindu, Hampi-based Vijayanagar Smaraka Samskruti Samrakshana Sene has submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hampi Sub-division, Deputy Director of the State Archaeology Department and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) urging them to take steps to protect the monument and bring the guilty to book.

There has been a spate of such acts of vandalism in the historic city. Earlier, the Gaali Gopura, a tower near the Malyavanta temple on the eastern side of Hampi, was razed to the ground by treasure hunters.
 

• Hampi
• Shivalinga
• Vandalism
• Heritage Site