The
Bellary and Kopal Districts, in which the archaeological remains of
Vijayanagara are included, are undergoing rapid development. The Tungabhadra
river dam has facilitated the growth of agriculture, mining, steel
manufacture, and smaller industries. As well, pilgrimage and tourism
have also grown significantly during the past three decades. All these
developments are having an impact on the site, which now faces grave
risks.
Changes
are most noticeable in the village of Hampi where a quiet village
has been transformed into a bustling pilgrim centre with unauthorised
concrete buildings encroaching, and in some cases, supplanting the
ancient structures. Facilities for visitors remain inadequate. Elsewhere
in the site, ugly whitewashed ashrams have grown up in archaeological
areas, and religious institutions and farmers have not hesitated to
demolish ancient walls to make way for roads, wells and water channels.
Even the magnificent landscape suffers: boulders are quarried or painted
with signs; the river is disfigured with inauthentic and unsightly
concrete steps; a new highway bridge leading to Anegondi threatens
to bring heavy road traffic through the middle of the site.
Admittedly,
the archaeological authorities protect many of the most important
historical monuments of Vijayanagara. They have also active in clearing
parts of the Royal Centre, thereby exposing significant remains of
palaces and other courtly structures. However, they make little attempt
to safeguard the areas in between the monuments, which are rich with
buried cultural remains. Only an overriding authority in command of
the whole site can oversee all of the archaeological remains.
A
conservation heritage plan is now badly needed to protect Vijayanagara’s
remarkable combination of physical, historical, archaeological and religious
features. UNESCO,
on whose World Heritage List Vijayanagara was inscribed in 1987, can
do little more than offer advise. Support within the country is now
urgently required for a plan based on a comprehensive understanding
of the significance of all the material remains of the city and that
will integrate local and State and Central Government needs and ambitions.
Only then can Vijayanagara’s unique heritage by guaranteed for
future generations. 
