Elephant Stables, Hampi

The Elephant Stables (Gaja Shala) in the Zenana Enclosure — eleven square domed chambers in a line, each ~10 metres wide, built in the first half of the 16th century to house the royal war elephants. The eleven domes alternate between circular, octagonal and 12-sided fluted shapes; the central dome is the largest. The arcades are carried on massive piers in an Indo-Islamic manner that was being used contemporaneously at Bijapur. Iron rings embedded in the chamber walls, from which the mahouts chained the elephants, are still in place. The stables are among the best-preserved buildings on the site.