Travelog - Badami, Aihole & Pattadakal

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 5^th and 10^th 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 5^th and 8^th 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 7^th 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 5^th 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 5^th century. Chakragudi on the corner past Ladkhan temple is a 9^th 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 9^th 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 6^th 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 11^th 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 7^th 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 8^th 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 6^th 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 5^th and 8^th 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 8^th 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 5^th / 6^th 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 7^th 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.

Finally reached Hyderabad safely by 9 PM!

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