Who discovered the ruins at Hampi and prepared first survey map of the site?

Colin Mackenzie

The correct answer is Option (2) → Colin Mackenzie

The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India Company, he prepared the first survey map of the site. Much of the initial information he received was based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently, from 1856, photographers began to record the monuments which enabled scholars to study them. As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting several dozen inscriptions found at this and other temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the history of the city and the empire, historians collated information from these sources with accounts of foreign travellers and other literature written in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.

Timeline related to Hampi:

• The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin Mackenzie.
• In 1856 Alexander Greenlaw takes the first detailed photographs of archaeological remains at Hampi.
• In 1976, Hampi was recognized as a site of national importance.
• In 1986 Hampi was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO.