🎧 TimeLensPodcast Episodes

At the goshala beside the entrance identified locally as Vali's cave, in the Kishkindha landscape near Hampi, Karnataka Watch the S1/E11 field reel: The cow walked directly toward us. There was no hesitation and no alarm. She came close enough for me to rub her nose, accepted the attention calmly and then wandered back into the goshala. That could have been the entire encounter. But she returned. Completely unbothered. Completely trusting. The first part of the reel is deliberately unhurried. The cow approaches at her own pace, closes the distance and allows the interaction to happen without being pulled or directed. A trusting cow allowing her nose to be rubbed at the goshala This is not a staged animal encounter. It is simply what happened while we stood inside the goshala in the Kishkindha landscape. The trust is the story. In a place visited by caretakers, guides, devotees and travellers, this cow seemed entirely accustomed to people—and entirely free to decide wheth...

At the entrance to Vali's cave, in the Kishkinda landscape near Hampi, Karnataka Watch the S1/E10 field reel: The best-kept secret in Hampi arrived in a steel plate. Not an inscription. Not a monument. Not a story carved into stone. Fresh buttermilk—poured directly from a large vessel at a goshala beside the entrance to the place identified locally as Vali's cave. Most visitors would never expect to find it here. We did not. Fresh buttermilk from the goshala The buttermilk was fresh from the cows at the goshala and served in the traditional way: poured directly into a plate and drunk from its edge. Fresh buttermilk being served into a steel plate at the goshala Our guide drank it first. He described it as the tastiest buttermilk in Hampi. After a hot afternoon in the Hampi–Anegundi landscape—climbing Anjanadri Hill, visiting Rishimukha and moving through the rocky terrain—it was exactly what we needed. Fresh. Cool. Completely unexpected. Our guide drinking fresh but...

Pampa Sarovar, near Anegundi and Hampi, Karnataka Watch the S1/E9 field reel: One temple. One sarovar. Three sacred ages—and a founding story attached to one of South India's greatest empires. At Pampa Sarovar, the landscape holds several kinds of memory at once. Local tradition connects the Vijayalakshmi Devi temple with Hakka and Bukka, Vidyaranya and the beginning of the Vijayanagara empire. The sarovar carries the story of Pampa Devi's tapasya. The Ramayana tradition brings Rama, Lakshmana and Shabari through this landscape. Beside the water, a cave is remembered as Shabari's place of seva and waiting. These accounts do not all belong to the same kind of evidence. Some are documented history. Some come from sacred literature. Some live as folklore at the site. To understand Pampa Sarovar, we have to hear each one in its own register. The temple where an empire is remembered to have begun The tradition told at the site is direct: Hakka and Bukka performed pooja h...

Rishimukha, near Anegundi and Hampi, Karnataka Watch the S1/E8 field reel: An empire built a bridge here. A German lady is buried here. A Swamiji has lived here for almost 100 years. This is Rishimukha. This is Nambikke. The woman who never left A foreigner—a German lady—came to Rishimukha. She believed the account of Sugriva's cave and Rama's alliance so deeply that she moved here. She built a small cottage and a small garden beside the cave. She stayed until she died. She is buried in her garden, right next to the cave at Rishimukha. She believed the account, made her life beside this place and never left. The garden location beside Rishimukha, marked in red A closer view of the garden location beside Rishimukha This account was told to us by Hanumanthappa Angadi , the guide who took us through this landscape. He lives in the village immediately beside Rishimukha. He grew up playing around this cave complex, spent time cleaning the caves as a child and personally p...

Rishimukha, near Anegundi and Hampi, Karnataka Watch the S1/E7 field reel: Watch S1/E7 on your preferred platform Instagram → YouTube Shorts → Facebook → TikTok → A life beside the cave Inside Rishimukha, Akul and I met an elderly Swamiji seated beside the cave complex. We were told that he is nearly 100 years old and has spent his life here. Photographing with permission: Before taking his photograph, we asked the Swamiji for permission. We photographed him only after he agreed. The guide accompanying us recalled seeing him here when the guide himself was a child. The Swamiji was already a young adult then, doing seva at the cave. Decades passed; he remained. That testimony is an oral recollection recorded during our field visit, not a documentary verification of the Swamiji's exact age or every year of residence. Its value lies in what the guide could personally remember: the same person, the same place and a lifetime of continuity. Why nearly 100 years matters The point ...