India Guide
Karnataka
Mahanavami-Dibba
Address: Royal monuments, Vijayanagar, 3km south of Hampi Bazaar
Mahanavami-Dibba or "House of Victory", was built to commemorate a successful campaign in Orissa. This twelve-metre pyramidal structure, with a square base, was where the king gave and received honours and gifts. From here he watched the magnificent parades, music and dance performances, martial arts displays, elephant fights and animal sacrifices that made celebration of the ten-day Dussehra festival famed throughout the land. Carved reliefs decorate the sides of the platform. To the west, another platform – the largest at Vijayanagar – is thought to be the basement of the King's Audience Hall. Stone bases of a hundred pillars remain, in an arrangement that has caused speculation as to how the building could have been used; there are no passageways or open areas.