Confer special status to Hampi: Historian

Bangalore, Mar 5 (UNI) Renowned historian and Kannada literary scholar M Chidananda Murthy today demanded that the Karnataka Government take steps to confer special status to World Heritage centre Hampi on the lines of Vatican City.

Addressing newspersons here, Dr Murthy, who had done extensive study on the Hampi ruins, alleged that the seat of power of the then Vijayanagar empire, destroyed by a confederation of Muslim kings, still stood unprotected. Various shrines and places of historic importance at Hampi were being encroached upon and damaged by Muslims and the Hampi Development Authority remained inactive.

Besides, foreign visitors were indulging in immoral activities, he accused, demanding that the State Government take measures to stop all illegal constructions coming up in Hampi.

Opposing the State Government's decision to constitute a separate Barry Academy, he appealed to the Government to drop the ''ridiculous and unwarranted'' move as the language was not widely spoken and no notable literary work had been done in that language.

UNI