By Fakir Balaji
Hampi (Karnataka) Jan 29 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior most leader L.K. Advani Friday performed the ’shilanyas’ (foundation laying ceremony) for a majestic theme park near this world heritage site that depicts the splendour of the mighty Vijayanagara empire.

Art of Living founder seer Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa were present at the ‘bhoomi pooja’ (ground-breaking ceremony) at the Hampi University campus where the 200-acre park will be built by the state government at a cost of Rs.80 crore in two years.

Amid chanting of Vedic hymns, Hindu priests conducted the ritual and assisted Advani in the ceremony held to mark the 500th anniversary celebrations of the coronation of the Vijayanagara’s king Krishnadevaraya.

Expressing joy and immense satisfaction for giving an opportunity to perform the ’shilanyas’, Advani said he had launched a sound-and-light show on the golden era of the early 16th century empire.

“During my tenure as the central information & broadcasting minister in the Morarji Desai government (1977-79), I advised the sound-and-light division in the ministry to conduct a show on the glorious Vijayanagara empire as it was already doing such a show on epic Ramayana,” Advani recalled during his speech on the occasion.

Though the division was able to script a sound-and-light show on the glory of the empire in the Deccan heartland of peninsular India, Advani regretted that the event was staged in Hyderabad and not in Bangalore or at Hampi in Karnataka.

“When I asked Yeddyurappa which state - Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh - prided in patronising the king and his empire, the chief minister said both did, but the descendants of Krishnadevaraya lived near Hampi,” Advani pointed out.

The state government, which is organizing the three-day Hampi fest coinciding with the coronation day of the king in circa 1509, has set up the Vijayanagara Punaschetana Prathishtana (revival trust) under the aegis of the tourism department to protect and preserve the rich legacy, heritage and treasure-trove of the golden empire.

Announcing Rs.5 crore seed capital for the ambitious project, the chief minister said the objective of the theme park was to revive and restore the glory of the Vijayanagara kingdom and to foster the Hindu dharma and culture to perpetuate its rich legacy for posterity.

“The sprawling park will be built on the lines of the Akshardham temple in New Delhi with a majestic bronze statue of the scholar-warrior emperor in the centre,” Yeddyurappa noted.

The landscaped park will also have a museum to exhibit the artefacts of the empire, a multi-media theatre to depict the life and times of the kingdom and a publication house to print books and journals on the contributions made by the empire that ruled for over 300 years.

The buildings will be built with the architectural style of Vijayanagara.