Badami

Badami was the 2nd capital of the Chalukyas and is around 50km from Aihole. Also know as Vatapi (named after the demon of the Ramayana epic) it is located at the mouth of a ravine between two rocky hills and surrounds Agastya tirtha water reservoir on the three other sides. The town is pretty well developed with numerous hotels and lodges. If you are planning to visit Aihole, Badami and Pattadakallu, you can make this place as the base.

The place gets its name from the color of the rocks in the region. They are similar the color of the dry fruit – Badami and hence the name.

Badami has a number of temples built between the 5^th and 8^th century, the most famous among them are the cave temples. Due to time constraints and the fatigue of having traveled to Hampi, we decided only to visit these cave temples. There are 4 cave temples (plus one natural cave).

Chalukyas were predominantly followers of Lord Vishnu, however the latter kings were also followers of Lord Shiva. A few also embraced Jainism. This is evident from the 4 cave temples. The first one is dedicated to Lord Shiva, 2^nd and 3^rd dedicated to Lord Vishnu and the 4^th one to Jainism. In the 5^th (natural cave) there is a sculpture, though the exact identity of this carving is not know, it is though to resemble Lord Buddha.

The temples have been carved into the hills, except for the deities nothing in the temples is foreign. Everything has been carved into the finely grained horizontally stratified sandstone hills of Badami. Each of these temples are characterized by a pillared “mukha mutapa” (verandha), then a “maha mantapa” and then a small cell – the “garbha gudi” which houses the God.

The 3^rd cave (from below) dedicated to Lord Vishnu is the oldest among the 4 caves. It is also the most grandest and the biggest of all the 4 caves. The main idol is missing (same is the case with the other Vishnu cave temple) – it is believed to have been destroyed in the 16^th century during the muslim invasion. The sculptures and carvings here depict the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu including Bali Chakravarthi, Vijayanarasimha, Ranganatha among others.

According the inscriptions found, the 3rd cave was completed in 578 AD. The pillar brackets are finely decorated with male and female figures - with fertility being the main theme.

The 6th century paintings on the ceiling of these caves are still visible. The guide told us the main inspiration of these cave temples for the Chalukyas were the Anjantha caves.

The pillars of this cave temple like all vishnu temples are highly decorated.

The 2nd cave (from below) is the 2nd oldest temple and is also dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is much smaller than the 3rd cave. However it is very much similar to it.

Again this temple consists of various incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The most brilliant carving here is that of Bali Chakravathi (right side picture below). A similar carving is also present in the 3rd cave and it is believed that both these carvings are a replica of carving found in the Durga temple in Aihole.

The sculptures on the ceiling in this temple is amazing. Most of the patterns and designs here are replicas of the ones found in the Aihole temples. If you observe the picture below (right side) closely, it can represent a fish wheel (Meena Chakra) or a lotus flower. The 2nd image is that of the scared Swasthik.

The 1st cave is dedicated to lord Shiva. It is smaller than the 3rd cave but bigger than the 2nd cave. The Shiva Linga is still present but it has been partly damaged. This cave consists of carvings of Shiva, Ganesha, Parvathi and Subramanya. Two very interesting carvings here are that of HariHara (a single carving with one half representing Lord Vishnu and the other half represently Lord Shiva) and that of Shiva Parvathi (again one half of the carving is that of Lord Shiva and the other half that of his wife Goddess Parvathi)

But the most fascinating carving of all is that of Nataraja. This carving depicts Nataraja with 18 hands, and depending on which two hands you consider, you can see a total of 81 dancing positions.

The 4th cave is dedicated to Jainism and consists of various Jain thirthankaras. Though not as big or as elaborate as the other 3 Hindu temples, the sculptures are very unique.

The carving of Lord Gomataeshwara is very similar to the statue found in Shravanabelagola.

Depending on your interests it could take 2-3 hours to view these cave temples. There are other temples in the vicinity, which we skipped. To cover all of them it could take a couple of hours more. The film Guru was also shot in this area.

Close to Badami there is Banashankari Temple and Mahakuta temples. Unless you are deeply religious you may want to skip Banashankari Temple, but the Mahakuta temple complex is worth a visit. Both these places are with in 20km from Badami. Mahakuta was also one of the capitals of the Chalukyas. There are lot of Shiva temples in this complex.


More pictures below: