After visiting Thanjavur – Mahabalipuram
– Madurai in May, my thirst for Historical & Heritage sites has enhanced
further and this time I wanted to discover the beauty of Chalukyan Monuments
and the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal.
Badami is a historical town in Bagalkot
district of Karnataka. It is 36 Kms from Bagalkot, 120 Kms from Bijapur & 104
Kms from Hubli, 451 Kms from Bangalore & 420 Kms from Hyderabad. The group
of cave temples and monuments in Badami, Aihole & Pattadakal are
constructed by Chalukyan kings between 5th and 10th
centuries. Pattadakal is about 25 Kms from Badami and Aihole is further 16 Kms
from Pattadakal. With over 100 temples built in different styles, Aihole and
Pattadakal are considered as the cradle of South Indian temple architecture and
both these sites were laboratories of Indian temple architecture.
Just
to summarize the trip in few words, Magnificent Caves, Wonderful Temples &
Architecture, Breathtaking Views, Poor Villages and a lot of History. If you
are interested in architecture and history, this is a must visit place.
I am sure this travelogue is going to be
lengthy. There are lot of places and I just tried covering the important ones.
Badami
Day
1 – Journey & Aihole visit
Started our journey at 6:30 AM. Badami
is around 420 Kms from Hyderabad and Aihole, on the way to Badami is around 390
Kms. My plan was to reach Aihole by 2 PM, visit all the places and arrive at
Badami before it is dark.
The road till Mahabubnagar was 4-lanes (NH-7)
and it was a pleasure. The stretch between Mahabubnagar & Raichur was okay
with few bad patches. Raichur – Lingsugur was also not bad. We reached Lingsugur
before 12 noon and wanted to take a lunch break, but could not find any decent
place. After reaching NH-13 just before Hungund, found a place called Hotel
Prakash on the highway. It appeared little more than a Dhaba, but we wanted to
give a try. It was close to 1 PM and my 4 year old kid was already feeling hungry.
Ordered Chicken and Egg fried rice. The food was really tasty and was cheaper
too.
Finished our lunch by 1:30 PM and were
back on track. Aihole is around 25 Kms from Hungund and we reached the main
temple complex of Aihole by 2:15 PM. It usually takes 2-3 hours to cover all the
places in Aihole. Aihole is pretty small town and you don’t find anything
beyond soft drinks & few snacks.
About Aihole:
Aihole
is a famous for wonderful temples built between 5th and 8th
centuries. These temples bound diverse and unique architecture style of
Chalukyan rulers by mixing Nagara and Dravidian styles. This place along with Pattadakal
is considered as the laboratory of Indian temple architecture. There are over
70 temples in Aihole alone.
Aihole - Durga Temple
The main temples along with museum are
housed inside a closed complex. Entrance fee is Rs. 5 and Rs.25 for Digital
Cam. The most important temple in Aihole is the magnificent Durga temple on the
left side of complex entrance. Built in Gajaprastha style in late 7th
century, it is a blend of Nagara and Dravidian styles. The temple has a curved
rear corridor, usually seen in Buddhist Chaityas. This temple has large number
of carvings on all corners. Built on a high elevated platform, the shrine has a
large mukha-mandapa with an inner mandapa and empty garbha-griha. The entrance
of mukha-mandapa has garuda image holding two snakes. The square pillars with
floral designs, the outer pillars are filled with sculptures of passionate
couple in different postures. The ceiling has a circular snake god image. The
ceiling is supported by trunks of two elephants in mukha-mandapa, which is not
seen in any other temple here. Rear side of the temple has a large image of Shiva
in diminishing condition.
Aihole - Durga Temple
Ladkhan temple, one of the oldest temples
in this complex was built in 5th century. Originally a Surya temple,
it was later converted to a Shiva temple. It is a mandapa style temple with an
image of Lord Shiva on the rooftop of garbha-griha. This temple has a
mukha-mandapa and a large sabha-mandapa with big bull placed at the center. The
artistic windows inside the sabha-mandapa are quite attractive. The strong pillars
are designed attractively. This temple was used as the residence by Ladkhan, a
general (probably, from Bijapur kingdom).
Aihole - Ladkhan Temple
There are several small & medium
shrines in the complex. Suryananarayna gudi before Ladkhan temple is dedicated
to God Surya. Gaurdara gudi seems to be the oldest of all, built in 5th
century. Chakragudi on the corner past Ladkhan temple is a 9th
century structure built in Nagara style with several sculptures. It has a large
mandapa with several carved pillars. There is a large temple tank beside
Chakragudi. Badigar Gudi behind Chakragudi is a 9th century Surya
temple built in Nagara style.
Aihole - Temples
Finally, we visited the museum opposite
to Durga temple. It has several sculptures collected from surrounding places, a
miniature map of Aihole and few pictures on temples architecture.
After coming out of the main complex,
visited the Ambigare gudi opposite to the main complex. I heard about beautiful
cave temple in Aihole and enquired about the same. There is a road beside the
main complex which leads to the cave and a hilltop temple. There was another
temple complex towards the left side after taking right turn at main complex. We
stopped there for few minutes. These temples with plain walls in Phamsana style
were built during Kalyani Chalukyas. There are several small bull mandapas with
carved images on all four pillars. We drove further and took left at a junction
to reach the cave temple, Ravanaphadi.
Ravanaphani, as it’s called, the
rock-cut cave temple dedicated to Lord Shiva was built in 6th
century. A large sculpture of dancing Shiva with 10 hands is the highlight of
this place (a smaller version with 18 hands is seen in Cave 1 of Badami). The
cave also had large images of Mahishasura mardhini and Varaha. There was a
stone shivalinga in the central sanctum. We could see another temple built in
nagara style closer to Ravanaphani. It is 11th century Shiva temple
called Huchchimalli temple. It has a mukha-mandapa, a large sabha-mandapa and
garbha-griha. With plain outer walls, the temple has images of Brahma, Vishnu,
Kartikeya, Mahishasura Mardhini, etc.
Aihole - Ravanaphani
Aihole - Ravanaphani
Aihole - Huchchimalli temple
Our last stop in Aihole was Jain temple
on hilltop. We parked the vehicle on the main road and took the walkway on the
edge of Aihole village to reach the entrance of the hill. The walkway was very
dirty with all sorts of waste thrown by households behind. I walked up to the
hill quickly and found a two storied Jain temple which was locked. Walked up
further to the top of the hill and found a damaged Shiva temple. The hilltop
offers scenic view of all Aihole monuments and the village.
Aihole - Jain Temple
Aihole - Hilltop Temple
It was close to 5 PM and we came back
quickly to resume our drive to Badami. It is 35 kms stretch but the road was
horrible after Aihole and it took us more than 1 hour 20 minutes to reach
Badami by 6:30 PM. I have not booked the accommodation in advance, so went
straight to Hotel Rajsangam, opposite to the bus station. I heard good reviews
about this hotel and luckily the rooms were available. Food was good at Banasree
Restaurant (below Hotel Rajsangam) and Hotel Anand (opposite to Hotel Rajsangam).
Day
2 – Badami Town & Banasankari
Eager to visit wonderful sites of
Badami, we woke up at 7 AM and ventured into the town by 9 AM.
About Badami:
Badami
was the capital of Chalukya Kingdom that ruled most of South India between 543
– 757 CE. It was also ruled by Rashtrakuta’s between 757 – 950 CE and came
under the control of Western Chalukyas of Kalyani between 950 – 1250 CE. It was
at the zenith of its popularity during early Chalukya’s rule.
Badami
is famous for four Rock-cut Cave temples, Agastya Lake, Bhuthanathaa Temple,
Mallikarjuna Temples, Badami Fort and Museum. All the historical monuments are
on the banks of Agastya Lake. Banasankari Temple, 5 Kms away from Badami is
also a famous site.
Badami - Cave Temples
Cave Temples:
Rock-cut Cave Temples come first in the
list of anyone visiting Badami. Heading towards cave temples, we found no
directions to the caves and had to depend on Google Maps and ask people around.
The cave temples are around 1.5 Kms from Badami Bus Station.
The cave temples are built between 550
CE and 750 CE. The first cave is dedicated to Lord Shiva and second one is primarily
a Lord Vishnu cave with carvings of Shiva and Brahma. Third cave is the biggest
one dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Fourth one is a Jain cave with fine carvings of
Mahavira. The caves are at different levels of the red sandstone hill connected
by plight of steps.
We reached Caves site by 9 AM. A big
parking area with booking counter, caves entrance, walkway to the lake and a
small canteen in different directions. Entrance fee is Rs. 5 for Indians, no
extra charge for Camera. Cave 1 is visible from the parking area, few steps
away from the entrance gate. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, this cave has large
carvings of Lord Shiva, Mahishasura Mardhini, Shiva Parvathi, Dwarapalakas
& others in perfect condition. The carving of Lord Shiva in 81 dancing
postures is highlight of the cave. Same carving in bigger size exists in Ravanaphadi
Cave temple of Aihole. The ceiling of Cave 1 has nice carvings too. The round
snake god carving (similar to the one in Durga Temple in Aihole) is pretty
nice.
Badami - Cave1
Badami - Cave1
Badami - Cave1
Few steps above Cave 1, Cave 2 is little
smaller and it is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It has got nicely carved
Dwarapalakas and wonderful carvings of Varaha and Trivikrama. There are few nicely
carved images on the ceiling. The garbha-griha of the cave was closed for
public.
Badami - Cave2
Badami - Cave2
Few steps above Cave 2 through a solid
stone entrance, Cave 3 is the biggest and mightiest one dedicated to Lord
Vishnu. Built in 578 CE, this cave has the best & largest collection of
carvings. It has a large carving of Trivikrama (similar to the one seen in Cave
2), Narasimha, Vishnu and Varaha. The brackets of the wall and pillars are decorated
by wonderful carvings of couples, Lion, Garuda and other Puranic characters.
The ceiling also has mural paintings, only a small portion of it survive today.
Badami - Cave3
Badami - Cave3
Badami - Cave3
Cave 4 is the top most one above cave 3
and it’s dedicated to Jain guru Mahavira. This cave has beautiful carvings of
Mahavira and Jain characters. The pillars have detailed images of Mahavira and
floral carvings. The wall brackets have few nicely carved images of Jain
characters. Every corner of this cave is finely carved and the garbha-griha has
a large statue of Mahavira in perfect condition.
Badami - Cave4
It took little more than an hour to
visit all caves. We came down to parking area and enquired about Bhuthanatha
temple. It can be reached by walking through the village adjacent to the lake.
However, there is one more route from the main road to drive (2 Kms) through
the village and reach the other side of the lake where museum, fort,
Mallikarjuna temple and Bhuthanatha temple are located. We decided to drive as
my kid was looking bit tired. There are no proper directions to the museum
road. We had to ask people around and explore on the map. The street towards
the museum was very narrow with lot of domestic activities on the streets. Be
watchful of kids running across the streets. One can drive closer to Bhuthanatha
temples, but we parked near the museum.
Badami - Bhuthanadha temple from Museum
Walking on the shores of the lake
watching villagers washing cloths & kids swimming, we reached the Mallikarjuna
group of temples. The Mallikarjuna temples were constructed in Phamsana
(stepped pyramid) style during Kalyani Chalukya’s rule. The main shrine has plain
walls, an open mandapa and a closed bigger mandapa inside. The doors were locked,
but the caretaker opened it for us and we had a glance of the inner section of
the temple. There are not many sculptures inside the temple. The square and
round pillars resemble the other temples built during Kalyani Chalukyan period.
There is one more midsize temple on the right side of main shrine with closed
inner mandapa. Few more small supplemental shrines exist behind the main one.
Badami - Mallikarjuna Temples
Few more meters walk further took us to
the magnificent Bhuthanatha temple. Built in late 7th century, Bhuthanatha temple is the primary promotional
attraction of Badami tourism. Built in Dravidian style, the main structure is
emerged into the lake. The main shrine has a mukha-mandapa followed by a large
sabha-mandapa and garbha-griha with a shivalinga. The sabha-mandapa has several
large decorated pillars. Several sculptures of the temple seem to be missing. The
surroundings of Bhuthanatha temple provide breathtaking views of the hills,
cave temples, lake and fort. This place becomes a picturesque location in
monsoons with waterfalls dropping from a height of over 200 feet through the
hills behind the temple.
Badami - Bhuthanadha temple
Badami - Bhuthanadha temple
Few more steps further took us to a large
stone with carvings of Narasimha, Parvathi, Ganesha Varaha & Trimurthis in
bas-relief style. This seems to be an unfinished effort. We walked down further
and reached a small structure built into the rock, but once we entered, we were
surprised by a small but very beautiful sculpture of Lord Vishnu in sleeping
posture with several other gods. The image is very detailed and perfectly
executed. I noticed several people returning after visiting the Bhuthanatha
temple and miss this piece of wonderful artwork.
Badami - Bas-relief carvings
Badami - Mini temple
Badami - Carvings in mini temple
We came back to the museum area at the
bottom of the northern hill and quickly covered the artifacts of the museum. It
houses several sculptures and collections of Chalukyan period. It has separate
entrée fee and photographs are not allowed inside. The fort is on top of
northern hill behind museum.
Badami - On the way to fort
The entrance to the fort is beside
museum. After walking for more than 3 hours, my kid gave up and had no interest
to climb the hill to visit the fort, but the beautiful structures on top of the
hill kept calling me and I wanted to give a try. The fort was built by the
Chalukya Ruler Pulakesi I in early 6th Century. The fort has two
beautiful temples along with ruins of few administration and residential
blocks. As I climb the fort, I could feel the uniqueness of these hills and
wondered at the natural defense these hills provide to the fort. The stones are
cut at few areas to make way to the top of the hill. I noticed small stone enclosures,
probably the administrative blocks of the fort. I reached the lower Shivalaya
temple, which is a two story structure on south-west corner of the hill. The
panoramic view of the caves, lake, fort and Badami town from this point is
mesmerizing. I spent almost 15 minutes enjoying the view from this point and
realized it’s past lunch time for my kid and I need to get back quickly.
Abandoned the plan to visit upper part of the fort and took some pics of the
Upper Shivalaya which is visible from there. Came down to the fort entrance and
drove back to the hotel.
Badami - Lower Shivalaya in fort
Badami - Upper Shivalaya in fort
Took some break after lunch and visited
Banasankari Temple at 4 PM, which is about 5 Kms from Badami. Originally built
in 8th century, this temple is famous for huge Deppa-stambas (lamp
pillars). Also, there is a large lake in front of the temple with a three story
structure on which another large Deppa-stamba is installed. These Deppa-stambas
are lit during the annual festival in Jan / Feb which attracts large crowd from
Karnataka & Maharashtra. The temple was not crowded and we finished the
darshan in less than 20 minutes.
Banasankari Temple
Banasankari Temple
Day
3 – Mahakoota & Pattadakal
We checked out of the hotel at 9 AM and
planned to visit Mahakoota & Pattadakal and drive back to Hyderabad.
After experiencing the horrible
Aihole-Pattadakal- Nandikeshwar-Kendur-Badami route on Day 1, we enquired
around before starting and decided to take Banasankari route to visit Mahakoota
& Pattadakal. Our plan was to visit Mahakoota & Pattadakal before 12 noon
and reach Hyderabad by 8 PM. Mahakoota is around 16 Kms from Badami and
Pattadakal is about 16 Kms further via Nandikeshwar.
Mahakoota is a 6th century
temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It was the favourite temple of Chalukya rulers and they donated good portion of fortunes earned from their successful
campaigns against neighboring kingdoms.
Mahakoota Temples
About Pattadakal:
Pattadakal
is a group marvelous temples built between 5th and 8th
centuries on the banks of Malaprabha River. These temples bound diverse and
unique architecture style of Chalukya’s by mixing Nagara and Dravidian styles.
This place along with Aihole is considered as the laboratory of Indian temple
architecture.
We hit the Banasankari road at 9:15 AM and
reached Mahakoota by 9:45 AM. The road till Banasankari is pretty good and the
single road till Mahakoota is alright. Mahakoota is pretty old temple rebuilt
several times. A big pond of fresh water is the highlight of Mahakoota. The
water of this pond considered sacred and pilgrims can take bath in the pond.
There are several small shrines around the main temple, all of them dedicated
to Lord Shiva. There is a guest house for pilgrims to stay overnight and small
shops around.
Mahakoota Temples
Started towards Pattadakal at 10:15 AM.
The road till Nandikeshwar was okay, but the Nandikeshwar-Pattadakal stretch was
worse as expected. The 8 Kms stretch between Nandikeshwar-Pattadakal took more
than 20 minutes and reached Pattadakal by 10:45 AM.
The magnificent temples are visible from
main road and we quickly got out of the vehicle and entered the complex. Pattadakal
is a small town with few snacks shops around the temple. Entrance fee is Rs. 10
for Indians and no extra fee for Digital Cam. The timings are 7 AM to 6 PM.
The temple complex has 9 important
shrines. Kadalisiddeswara, Jambulinga, Galaganadha, Chandrasekhara,
Sangameswara, Kasi Visveswara, Mallikarjuna, Virupaksha and Papanatha temples,
all of them dedicated to Lord Shiva. Except Papanatha temple, all other shrines
are inside an enclosed complex. Papanatha temple is about 200 meters away from
the main complex close to the river. Among these temples, Virupaksha Temple is
the biggest and best structure followed by Mallikarjuna and Kasi Visveswara
temples.
Pattadakal - Temple Complex
Virupaksha Temple, constructed in early
8th century, is built in Dravidian Style. It has got three
mukha-mandapas, a large sabha-mandapa and garbha-griha with a path for
pradakshinas. A huge Nandeeswara carved from black stone is placed in a large
mandapa with decorative carvings (a similar Nandi mandapa is seen in
Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur). There is also a maha-dwara behind Nandi
mandapa. All three mukha-mandapas are decorated with wonderful carvings of
Shiva, Narasimha, Ravana lifting Mount Kailasa, etc. The ceiling of mukha
mandapas also have magnificent carvings, God Surya in sapta-radhas along with wives
Usha & Pratyusha and other characters is one of the best artworks in
Virupaksha Temple with so much detailing and accuracy. The pillars inside the
sabha-mandapa have detailed carvings of Mahabharata (particularly, Bhishma’s
collapse and the war of Bheema & Dhuryodhana), Ramayana, Bhagavata stories,
several animals, social life during 5th / 6th centuries
and the scenes from ethical stories like Panchatantra are marvelously carved in
tiny blocks on the pillars. The outer walls of the temple have the images of
Lord Shiva, Parvathi, Trivikrama and others.
Pattadatal - Virupaksha Temple
Pattadatal - Virupaksha Temple
Pattadatal - Virupaksha Temple
Mallikarjuna temple adjacent to
Virupaksha Temple is little smaller in size but follows the same ground plan
and exterior of Virupaksha Temple. Several carvings on the pillars inside the
Mallikarjuna temple are copied from Virupaksha Temple. The best artwork of this
temple includes Mahishasuramardhini chasing the demon and Gurukul. There are
few unique images of social life and animals, like the one where Elephant controlled
by mahout dragging wood log. The mukha-mandapas have few
sculptures of dwarapalaks, no grand ceiling art like Virupaksha Temple.
Pattadatal - Mallikarjuna Temple
Pattadatal - Mallikarjuna Temple
Kasi Visveswara temple beside
Mallikarjuna temple is a Nagara style temple little smaller than Mallikarjuna
temple. This temple houses few wonderful sculptures. The entrance of
garbha-griha has the image of garuda holding two snakes. The lower side of the
entrance depicts Shiva, Parvathi and Ganga. The pillars in this temple are
scroll type similar to those of Virupaksha & Mallikarjuna temples. The
carvings include the marriage of Lord Shiva, Mahabharata scenes, men riding
lion and few mythological creatures. The ceiling of this temple also has carved
images of Shiva & Parvathi.
Pattadatal - Kasi Visweswara Temple
Pattadatal - Kasi Visweswara Temple
Kadalisiddeswara, Jambulinga temples are
small shrines constructed in Nagara style. These temples built in late seventh
century do not carry any grand artwork. Galaganadha temple is a blend of Nagara
and Dravidian style with a platform, mukha-mandapa, sabha-mandapa, pradakshina
corridor and nagara style garbha-griha. Only the garbha-griha and part of the
pradakshina corridor survive today. The pradakshina corridor has windows on
three sides with a large sculpture of Shiva on the rear side of the outer wall.
The sikhara of this temple is intact but the statue on mukha-patti is missing.
Pattadatal - Galaganadha Temple
Sangameswara temple is a Dravidian style
temple built in 7th century with little sculptures. The structure of
the temple is similar to Mallikarjuna temple. Chandrasekhara temple is a small
shrine with mandapa like structure housing Shivalinga with no separate
garba-griha.
Pattadatal - Sangameswara Temple
Papanatha temple is about 200 meters
away from the main complex and need to walk down from Virupaksha Temple
mukhadwara. We didn’t have time to visit Papanatha temple as it was past 12
noon and we have to get onto the track to reach Hyderabad before it’s too late.
Also, there are no good lunch options till NH 13 past Hungund which is 40 Kms
away, more than 1 hour drive.
Instead of taking the pathetic Aihole
route to reach Hungund, with help of Google maps, we decided to try Gudur &
Ilal route. Though we were not sure of the road condition, thought it can’t be
worse than the Aihole stretch. It was good decision and the road was lot
better. We reached NH 13 by 1 PM and took a lunch at Hotel Prakash, the same
place where we had lunch 2 days back.
