Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal - located in the district of Bagalkot of Karnataka constitute a single World Heritage site. They are an excellent architectural source of the past, albeit on a lesser scale of size, if one were to compare with Ajanta and Ellora.
Badami, also called Vatapi was once the capital of Chalukyas (c.6th-8th Centuries). As per a myth, the Great Sage Agastya vanquished the demons Vatapi and Ilvala here. Located almost one and half hours away from the district head-quarters, the town is well connected by road. The railway station is 4kms away from the town's centre. There are 4 cave temples here dedicated to Saiva (Cave 1), Vaishnava (Caves 2 & 3) and Jaina (Cave 4) traditions. The carvings on the walls of the caves are simply exquisite! A dancing Lord Shiva as Nataraja along with a rather short Lord Vinayaka in the first cave and the simply marvelous relief of Lord Vishnu as Bhu-Varaha saving Bhu Devi in the second cave are captivating and iconic! The Red color of the hill adds a certain charm to the experience. The third cave, perhaps the largest has many panels of Lord Vishnu in some of his avatars. Various Jaina motifs are depicted in the fourth cave. Abutting these cave temples, on the banks of the almost dried Agasthya Lake are two separate temples, jointly called as 'Bhootanatha Temple Complex', dedicated to Lord Shiva. The ruins of the Badami fort on a hill and few smaller temples are located nearby. It is very easy to cover all these adjacent places. I planned a single day such that in the morning I was able to cover Bijapur/Vijayapura and in the evening - Badami!
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| Bhu-Varaha Panel, Cave 2, Badami |
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| Into the Chalukyan capital - Badami |
Located almost 30kms from Badami, Pattadakal/Raktapura 'the coronation city' has a cluster of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva in various forms. The frequency of busses from Badami to Pattadakal and Aihole is very less, so people rely on autos. The architecture here is a mixture of North Indian (Nagara/Rekhi) and South Indian (Dravida) styles, and is the zenith of early Chalukyan temple building. Garuda motif was liberally used to decorate the welcoming archways of Garbhagrihas - a Chalukyan rarity since the Garuda is associated mostly with Lord Vishnu rather than with Lord Shiva. The temple carvings here are iconic, and are drawn from Mahabharatha, Bhagavatam and other puranas. A Pillar inscription by Chalukya Mangalesha describes various temple grants. The biggest temple here is Lokeswara/Virupaksha temple named in honor of Lokeswari, a Chalukyan Queen.
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| Pattadakal |
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| Pattadakal |
Aihole is much farther from Pattadakal, and there are an estimated 120 temples in and around this little village. In fact there are so many monuments littered here and there in the village that one could not walk for at least 10 feet without stepping into an ancient temple or stepping on an old rock. Temples here like Durga temple, Ladkhan temple, Chakra temple evidently belong to a much earlier era and appear to be simple constructions unlike at Pattadakal. However, the must visit place here is a rock-cut and carved temple of Lord Shiva, called RavanaPhadi - some of the grandest reliefs are found here - pinnacle of Chalukyan rock art - Arhdanaadeeswara, Hari Hara Panel which depicts Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu as equals and a fine carving of an almost skeletal Bhrigu Maharshi having a darshan of Lord Shiva and Parvati as watched by three primary river goddesses. But, the piece de resistance is this - a ten handed Lord Shiva dancing in joy, surronded by Godess Parvati, Skanda/Kumara (partly defaced), Lord Vinayaka and watched by the Saptamathrikas! It was spellbinding!
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| Lord Shiva dancing, Ravan Phadi Cave |
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| Inside Ravan Phadi Cave |
En route, I stopped at Mahakuta - Dakshin Kashi, considered as the original Vatapi. The Malaprabha river was gently flowing by. Perhaps some 1400 years ago, Chalukya Pulkesin II could've proudly looked at the same river after defeating Harshavardhana and Pallava Mahendravarman. Even if he does somehow visit Badami today, he'd look at his own monuments with the same pride!
On #Mytravels @ Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole,
14th-15th of June, 2019.
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