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Ruins

Stepped Tank

A perfectly symmetrical five-tier tank of black schist, unearthed in the Royal Enclosure in the 1980s.

Stepped Tank: Temple stepped tank of the Vijayanagara Empire 10-31-2008 1-29-26 PM
Stepped Tank: Stepped tanks from Vijayanagar EmpireStepped Tank: Pushkarini or stepped tankStepped Tank: Public Bath or Stepped tank, Kamalapuram, Hampi

Open

6:00 am – 6:00 pm

Entry

Free entry

Best time to go

Morning

Time to spend here

About 20 minutes

Crowds

Can get busy

A few steps from the Mahanavami Dibba in the same Royal Enclosure; the geometry photographs beautifully in strong midday light.

Before you go

Car to the gate

No long walk in

Toilets 190 m away

Straight-line distance

Drinking water 680 m away

Straight-line distance

Listen to the story

About this place

This exquisite stepped tank (pushkarani) in the Royal Enclosure is one of Hampi's most photographed structures. Built from finely cut black schist in five receding tiers of identical steps arranged in a precise pyramidal geometry, it was excavated only in the 1980s and found remarkably intact. Numbered mason's marks on the blocks show the pieces were quarried elsewhere and assembled on site like a kit. A stone aqueduct once carried Tungabhadra water to the tank, part of the sophisticated hydraulic network that fed the royal centre for rituals and ceremonies. The play of light on its diminishing steps is mesmerising.

How to get there

  • By road to the entrance

  1. Go by car, bike or auto to Stepped Tank

    Google Maps takes you by road to the nearest point to the place.

    Directions in Google Maps
Walk there from where you areBigger map

Walking paths and times are from Google Maps. The way in can change on festival days: follow the signs and ASI staff.

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Photo credits