There are various reasons why one chooses a particular destination for vacation. It is usually recommendation from friends, seeing travel shows or book related to that subject. In my case, I chose Badami as I heard about it during my Hampi trip and planned to visit it.
Badami is an ancient city which was seat of the Chalukya empire from 6th to 8th century AD. Under the Chalukyas, Badami emerged as one of the regional centers of art, literature and religion. They are credited with construction of series of rock-cut cave temples and built other major temples in neighbouring villages of Aihole and Pattadakal.
Badami is often compared to Hampi, which is around 150 KMs to its south. However, while Hampi is a bustling tourist town, Badami is comparatively unknown place. It is a sedate and quiet place, with strong local flavour which in not yet influenced by tourism.
Another main attraction for the devotees is the Banashankari temple around 5 KMS from Badami town.
Having decided the destination, we booked our stay in Mayura Chalukya KSTDC hotel, a Karnataka State Government run enterprise. These hotels are in almost all the popular tourist destinations in Karnaktaka and usually meet the basic standards.
14-June-23
On evening of 14-Jun-23, we boarded the Yeswantpur-Vijayapura express which was to depart at 09:30 PM. Surprisingly, it was delayed by 1.5 hours at the starting station itself ! In the last couple of years, I have rarely experienced train delay and hopefully this delay was an aberration.
Next morning, we alighted at the quaint station of Badami at 10:30 am. The fact that the station is surrounded by fields (without any building in sight) reflected the size of this town. After a drive of 5 KMS we arrived at Mayura Chalukya KSTDC hotel and were amazed at the size of the hotel room. This was the biggest room I have ever checked-into ! After a quick break we headed towards the Northen Hill of Badami.
My only agenda was to view the Archaeological Museum at the foot of the hill and climb a few steps to view the Agastya lake from an elevation. For this I hired an auto rickshaw for to-and-fro trip from the hotel. After passing through slum-like residential area ( with pigs running around), we reached the Northen hill. The squalor and dense human habitation next to heritage monuments is a problem in and around Badami. The local government needs to improve this aspect in order to promote tourism.
The museum is not very large with four galleries and provides information about the various dynasties that ruled the region. Once outside, there are steps that takes one to the top of the hills. This served as a fort at one point of time and there are also a couple of important temples with excellent stone carvings.
We walked up a few steps and made my way through narrow pass to reach a plateau. There are two mandaps here and no signage of what was its purpose. The views from this vantage point are quite spectacular. I then ascended few more steps to a Shiva temple which is now in disuse.
Link to the video from Mantapa Plateau is given below
It was around 1 PM and we found it prudent to descent and head for lunch. This part of Karnataka is famous for its “Lingayat Khanavalis” – vegetarian restaurants which serve Jowar rotis ( rotis made from sorghum millet) with vegetables and dal. This meal is quite healthy and we dined in these khanavalis during our stay.
In the evening, we visited the Bhutanatha temple complex on bank of the Agastya lake build during 7th century. This is a group of temples on the eastern bank of Agastya lake with splendid view of the hillocks behind it. This temple and adjoining Mallikarjun temple are dedicate to Lord Shiva.
Link to the video from Bhutanatha temple complex is given below
It was very pleasant to walk besides the lake and watch the huge boulders .Behind the temple, there are Dasavatara sculptures on the face of the hillocks. A pleasant place to spend an evening !
After dinner at “Veerabhadreshwara Lingayat Khanavali”, (the owner speaks five languages and customizes the spice level on request !) we called it day.
17-June-23
On this day, we had planned to visit the historical site of Pattadakal and Aihole which are about 17 KMS and 35 KMS from Badami respectively. We hired a private taxi and set out at 09:30 AM.
The roads in this part of the state are pretty good and it was pleasant drive to ancient city of Aihole. The surrounding fields and traffic-less drive was change from traffic clogged roads of Bangalore.
Aihole was earlier called Aryapura and was an important centre for Chalukya’s between 6th to 12th century AD. Legend has it that this was a “sculpture school” for artists in Chalukyan empire and hence we find temples of different designs here.
The main temple complex here is called “Durga temple” – Durg – means fort and this is temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. There are no religious activities that take place here and entire site is managed by Archaeological Survey of India.
The Durga temple has a unique shape – it is semi-circular and resembles India’s old parliament building. There are major sculptures of Dashatavar inside this temple including Varaha, Narasimha etc. We would see similar (but much larger) sculptures in Badami cave temples.
There are other temples in the complex, notably Lad Khan Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. This was named after a general of Adil Shahi sultanate who had made this temple his home. We had hired a guide for INR 500 who explained us the significance of each structure in the temple complex. More than the information he provided; we found his skills in photography more useful. These guides take pictures with excellent backgrounds !
Link to the video from Aihole temple complex is given below
We then visited the Ravaphadi cave temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva. This style of “cave temples” we would see in detail in Badami over next couple of days.
Bidding adieu to Aihole we drove to Pattadakal, around 17 KMS towards Badami. On both sides were fields, desperately awaiting rainfall. Bagalkot district is drought prone and agriculture here is primarily dependent on rains.
Arriving at Pattadakal, we lunched at a small restaurant with impressive name “Shri Mahaakuteshwara hotel”. The lunch was staple of Joald rotis and sabzis and we were ready to now explore the Pattadakal temple complex.
The Chalukyas had reached their zenith of architectural style at Pattadakal and this is reflected in the temples here. It has a cluster of ten major temples, which showcase some striking architectural features. Pattadakal has temple architecture from Dravidian, Nagara (North Indian) and a mixture of both styles in its temple complex; a reflection of the exchange of ideas between different parts of Bharat-varsh.
Link to the video from Pattadakal temple complex is given below
All the temples here are dedicated to Lord Shiva and I found the Mallikarjun temple and Virupaksha temple most impressive. These have the separate Nandi mandapa, antarala (antechamber ), mantapa (large hall supported by pillars) and the garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum).
No worship takes places in Pattadakal temples ( except for Virupaksha). Weather, time and foreign invaders have destroyed much of what was once a spectacular architectural marvel.
Both Aihole and Pattadakal temple complex are well maintained by ASI with good washrooms, walking tracks and detailed information boards. Even in harsh summer, it was soothing to see well-manicured lawns here.
We arrived at our hotel in Badami around 4 PM after a day well spent.
18-Jun-23
The main attraction of Badami is its cave complex. At 10:00 AM, we left to visit the caves which are about 1KM from the main town.
These are ancient caves dating from 6th century CE. There are four caves in total –Cave 1 dedicated to Lord Shiva, Cave 2 to Vishnu, Cave 3 to Mahavishnu and Cave 4 to Tirthankaras, the revered figures of Jainism.
One need to climb around 200 steps to view all the caves. The views from the summit are spectacular, with clear view of Agastya lake and Badami town.
The caves are not very large but the sculptures are amazing. The details of each cave are given below
- Cave 1 – This is dedicated to Lord Shiva and has carvings of an 18-armed dancing Shiva, Harihara and Ardhanareshwara. The ceiling is adorned by serpent motifs, celestial nymphs, and other carved figures.
- Cave 2 – This cave is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and the carvings inside the temple depict different avatars of Vishnu. The highlight of this cave is the magnificent Varaha avatar. Also carved are several scenes from the puranas.
- Cave 3 –Dedicated to Lord Mahavishnu this cave has large carvings of Vishnu in different avatar like Narasimha and Vamana. This is the largest and most spectacular cave in the complex
Cave 4 – This case is dedicated to Jainism and has many carved images of Jain Tirthankars. In the sanctum santorum, Lord Mahavira is depicted in a sitting posture.
Though the overall maintenance of cave complex is good, there are bats flying around inside the caves . Also, there is strange unpleasant odour (bat droppings ?) which make it impossible to linger inside caves for more than few minutes. Thankfully most of the carvings are on outer side of the caves.
Link to the video from Cave-3 is given below
There was enormous rush of tourists which surprised me, since June is not tourist season. On enquiry, I found the crowd surge was due to free bus pass for women travellers. Rather than seeing the attractions, the focus of young women appeared to be on photo shoots and videos ! I did not envy the job of security guards who had to manage the crowds.
We then proceed to visit Banashankari Amma Temple dedicated to Goddess Banashankari or Shakambari, an incarnation of the goddess Parvati. It is located at Cholachagudd, about 5 km away from Badami Caves. This Goddess is family deity of many families in Karnataka and Maharashtra and hence attracts large number of devotees. Though not architecturally significant, one can feel the presence of divinity in temple premises. After seeking blessings of the goddess, we headed back to Badami.
We had lunch at another Lingayat Khanavali ( was as good as any other) and went back to hotel. Due to oppressive heat, we could be outdoors only in the morning and preferred to rest in afternoon
18-Jun-23
This was our final day in Badami and we had planned to visit the Northen Hill – on which are two Shiva temples and remains of a military fort
The weather was clement and suitable for our ascent. This hill is made of many huge rocks and one must make way through narrow passes between boulders. Our first stop was at a plateaus with two mantapas. The view from this point is quite spectacular with Agastya lake and Bhootnath temple complex clearly visible. Next, we visited a temple known as Lower Shivalaya which is now in ruins.
As we walked up to the Upper Shivalaya, the views of the surrounding boulders were impressive. Some travellers have compared this landscape to Petra in Jordan with its passes and gorges.
Link to the video from Northern hill is given below
On top of the hill is a plateau on which is Upper Shivalaya temple. The carvings on the walls of this large temple quite elegant.
On way down we visited the remains of the old fort. This was at commanding height with good view of the town. Also were two strange looking structured which one assumes to be granaries.
As we descended the fort, I marvelled the technological and architectural skills of ancient Indians. While we admire the bridges and buildings which last 100 years, structures in Badami have withstood vagaries of nature for 1300 years !
While Badami is not yet a popular destination, this town has good road and rail connectivity ,is modestly expensive and Hindi/English is understood extensively. Hopefully, in near future this quaint town will become a new tourist hotspot.
Temples of Karnataka 
Nicely narrated and gives a picture as though we visited the place..
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