Courtesans' Street
A long colonnaded market avenue — also called Sule Bazaar or Achyutaraya Bazaar — leading west to the Achyutaraya Temple.
Open
6:00 am – 6:00 pm
Entry
Free entry
Best time to go
Morning
Time to spend here
About 35 minutes
Crowds
Usually quiet
One of the quietest major streets in Hampi; most visitors stay near Virupaksha Temple and the Royal Centre. Best reached on foot from the Achyutaraya Temple or via the path from near the Underground Shiva Temple.
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About this place
Courtesans' Street, known locally as Sule Bazaar and to archaeologists as the Achyutaraya Bazaar, is a straight, ruined market avenue about 500 metres long that once linked the royal centre to the Achyutaraya Temple. Double-storey stone colonnades line both sides, their open pavilions once housing merchants, perfumers and the court dancers and courtesans whose presence gave the street its English name. The route runs from the temple's eastern gateway toward Gandhamadana Hill through a valley between Matanga and Gandhamadana, and is far quieter than Hampi Bazaar. Portuguese chronicler Domingo Paes noted the wealth of goods traded in Vijayanagara's market streets; here the scale and symmetry of the surviving granite pavilions still convey that prosperity.
Where it is
Close by
Photo credits
- Courtesans' Street: Aerial view of colonnaded Sule Bazaar ruins with boulder hills beyond · Vu2sga · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Courtesans' Street: Stone colonnades of the Achyutaraya market street with Matanga Hill behind · Keyjp · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Courtesans' Street: Long row of granite pillars along the bazaar approach to Achyutaraya Temple · Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Courtesans' Street: Perspective along the pillared bazaar street toward Gandhamadana Hill · Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
