Mesmerizing and Unforgettable Heritage Tourist Destination

Badami previously known as Vatapi is a town in Bagalkot district Karnataka, India. Badami is very well known for its rock carvings and temple planning. Badami symbolizes the rich traditional heritage of Karnataka. The Chalukyas sovereign Pulakeshi I founded it in the year 540 A D. the caves temples characterizes the  temperament of the rulers then with religious tolerance  that predispose towards Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

History of Badami

Badami was the primordial center of the early Chalukyas who ruled most of Karnataka and the neighboring Andhra Pradesh amid the 6th and 8th century. The celebrated Badami Rock-Cut Temples were engraved largely within this period. Badami became a spectator of chief authority resistance between the Pallavas, Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas, in the epoch between the 7th and 12th century. It was later occupied by the Vijaynagar Empire, the Marathas and Hyder Ali before the British incorporated it in the Bombay government.

Tourist Attractions in Badami

1. Bhuthanatha Temples

The two temples facing the Agastya Lake, are known as the Bhuthanatha Temples. Built of local sandstone, they are dedicated to Lord Shiva, in the form of Bhuthanatha. The sandstone used to build these temples gives them a beautiful glittering tint in the afternoon sun.

2. Cave Temples of Badami

The four cave temples of Badami have elaborate carvings, alluding to the legendary proceedings and spiritual experience of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism.

Cave Temple 1 – It is dedicated to lord Shiva. One can find the statuette of Shiva in his various avatars such as Nataraja, Harihara and Ardhanareeswara etc. the cave has enormous hall with many bastions.

Cave Temple 2 – It is devoted to Lord Vishnu,one can find his avatars of Trivikrama and Varaha. One has to climb the flight of stairs from the previous temple to reach here. The upper limit of the cave is put up with carvings of Vishnu from prospect of Puranas.

Cave Temple 3 – One has to climb the flight of stairs from the previous temple to reach here. This 100 feet unfathomable cave temple was constructed during the period of Chalukya  Kritivarma approximately 578 AD. In the interior of the temple one can find Lord Vishnu in carved avatars of Narasimha and Trivikrama. It also houses mural paintings that showcase the wedding ceremony of Shiva and Parvati.

Cave Temple 4 – It is committed to Jainism. One can find statuette of Tirthankaras carved within the cave.

3. Badami Fort

The Badami Fort is seated on the top of a hill adjoining two Shivalaya multifaceted. In the 5^th era emperor Pulakeshi II constructed these Shivalayas. The greater Shivalaya is dedicated to Lord Shiva while the lesser one is dedicated to Lord Ganesh.

Badami Fort is was built by Chalukyan King Pulakesgi in 543 AD. Perched on the top of a cliff, this fort is accompanied by two Shivalaya complexes dating back to the 5th century. A 16th century and a 14th century watchtower are also featured atop this hill.

4. Open Air Museum

The museum is positioned at the northern citadel. It was established in the year 1979. The museum mostly comprises of primordial rock tools and statuette which dates back to 6^th to 16^th AD.

Other Interesting Places in and around Badami

• Sangameshwara temple
• Banashankari Temple
• Aihole
• Ravanaphadi Cave
• Pattadakkal
• Agastya Lake
• Tipu’s Fort
• Durga Temple

Best season to visit Badami

September to March is reasonable and the perfect time to visit Badami. The summers are very hot and not suitable for travelling. The monsoon reason has heavy rain falls. The winter is fairly good for excursion. In the spring time it looks enchanted.

Accessibility to Badami

• By Road: Badami is connected to major towns in and around Karnataka. Numerous KSRTC and private buses ply to Badami.
• By Rail: The nearest rail head is Bagalkot Railway Station situated 38 kms away and Hubli Railway Station 103 km away from the city. The station connects the city to the northern and southern parts of India.
• By Air: The nearest airport is Belgaum Airport 139 km away from the city. The Bangalore International Airport is 509 km away from the city and connects it to the major towns around the globe.

Accommodations in Badami

Badami is the best tourist spot in Karnataka. It has many hotels, resorts, guest house, home stay and lodges that provide indispensable facilities at reasonable prices. The charges may differ from hotel to hotel and most of them offer advanced booking and reservations for safe and comfortable stay of the visitors. List of hotels located in Badami are:

• Badami Court Hotel
• Rajsangam International Hotel
• Anugraha Deluxe Hotel
• Mayura Chalukya Hotel
• Hotel Geeta
• Ayodhya Hotel
• Sanman Hotel
• Akashata Darshini Hotel
• Hotel Mookambika Deluxe
• Hotel Travel Inn
• Pulakeshi Hotel
• New Satkar Delux Hotel
• Homestay-inn And Guesthouse
• Hotel New Satkar
• Anand Deluxe Hotel

Full History

Badami is one of the most important centers of temple architecture, related to the Early Chalukyan period of rule. It is situated around 500 kilometers away from Bangalore (the Karnataka capital) and is well connected by any means of transport.

You have always heard how Karnataka is one of the ultimate heritage destinations in the whole India. When you are looking to taste some rich cultural and historical flavor of India, Karnataka is one of the best tourist destinations to where most people flock. Yes, the place, being a modern IT sector hub albeit, has a mystical charm about it when it comes to old traditions, customs and heritage. And when you visit Karnataka, how can you not visit one of the most popular heritage destinations in Karnataka, that is, Badami. Today, Badami stands as a crumple of ruins of the archaic monuments and temples on a red ridge of sandstone. Once, Badami was a manifestation of the glorious early Chalukyan age. It was founded and made the capital of the Chalukyan kingdom during the reign of Pulakeshi I.

According to Indian mythological legend, there lived two demons called Ilvala and Vatapi, who used to trick and eat passing mendicants. But when they were demolished by the ‘Agastya muni’, they turned into twin hills of Badami. This place saw much bloodshed, mainly between the Pallava and the Chalukyan dynasties. But during this bloodshed, there was also a glorious phase for the Indian temple architecture where both the dynasties contributed their part and evolved there was a Dravidian style of architecture that blended north Indian and south Indian styles.

Out of all the main temples, there are a group of four cave temples that the main historical attraction of Karnataka. The four caves are dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Goddess Parvati and Adinath (Jain thirthankara).

In the first cave temple, you will find the different carvings and paintings of Lord Shiva in his ‘Nataraja’ pose. Dating back to that 5th century CE, it has some manifestations of Lord Shiva in his ‘Ardhanareeswara’ and ‘Harihara’ incarnations. You will find reliefs of Shanmukha, Ganapati and Mahishasuramardhini reliefs over there as well.

In second cave temple, you will find the images of Trivikrama and Varaha incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Covering the flight of sixty-four stairs, you reach the cave temple where you find images of Garuda and Vishnu, and so forth.

In the third cave temple, reached over 60 steps into a 100-feet cave, you will find the Trivikrama and Narasimha avatar images of Lord Vishnu. Dating back to around 578 CE, this cave temple also contains images of the Lord Shiva-Goddess Parvati divine marriage. It all flourished during the age of Kiritivarma Chalukya.

In the fourth one, you will get a glimpse of the sixth Jain culture. You will find the carving of the Parshavnatha thirthankara, Mahavira and Adinath thirthankara in this temple.

Apart from these temple caves, there are two other noteworthy temples of Dattatreya and Mallikarjuna, especially the latter one that was built on star shaped platform.

Then you cannot miss the Badami archaeological museum with the Nandi (bull of Lord Shiva) at the entrance. Moreover, you will get some of the best demonstrations of the Lajja-Gauri (fertility cult). You will also find the Shivalayas on the nearby hillocks. While the upper one, formed during the reign of Pulakeshi II, is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the lower one is dedicated to Lord Ganesh. You get to see the firsthand show of Indian artillery (cannon) and a watchtower over there.

Constructed during the 5th century, there was a temple raised to the Lord Shiva, the lord of the five ‘Bhuta’ elements, and was called the Bhutanatha temple.

Well, that was quite a demonstration of the heritage destination, Badami of Karnataka.

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A wealthy city and the capital of the Hoysala dynasty, Halebid actually means a ruined city. This city is best known for the remnants of the grandeur and excellence that can be associated with the Hoysala epoch. It is also home to the renowned Hoysaleshwara Temple in honor of Lord Shiva that is a famous pilgrim spot. Halebid is at a distance of 32 kms from the city of Hassan and 17 kms from Belur. It is well connected by air, rail and roadways, the nearest airport being Mangalore and the closest rail station at Banavara.

In the 12th and 13th centuries Halebid was the capital city also referred to as Dwarasamudra. The Hoysaleshwara Temple stands as the epitome of Hoysala art and architectural excellence. Walls of this temple are adorned with beautiful and intricate sculptures of many deities, animals, birds etc. But the faces of the temple are vastly different from each other. It is interesting to note that despite nearly 86 years of hard labor, the temple was never officially completed.

The temple was built by the Chief of Staff of Vishnuvardhana Ketumalla and each in Belur and in Halebid the shrine contains a Shiva lingam. Vishnuvardhana incidentally was also the man behind the famous Chennakeshava Temple in Belur. A mandapam with a bull or Nandi finds a place before each of the Hoysala shrines. A statue of Surya with his seven horses has been established behind this.

Despite its tales of grandeur and rich cultural heritage the city fell a prey many a time to invaders who looted and plundered it of all its wealth reducing it to virtually rubble. It was then that the Hoysalas made a conscious decision to shift their capital city elsewhere and that is how Belur grew in importance. The Hoysaleshwara temple continues to house two shrines dedicated to Vishnuvardhana and his wife Shanthala Devi respectively. This style of temple architecture is called the Vesara style that had been the forte of the Chalukyas and reached its pinnacle during the reign of the Kalayani Chalukyas.

Thus the temples like Hoysaleshwara and Kedareshwara and their architectural brilliance mesmerized thousands and kept attracting pilgrims year after year. The rich cultural background of this city makes it a famous tourist destination and its connectivity with the other remaining cities like Belur; Hassan etc have contributed to a flourishing tourism industry in the state. A museum of busts and statues recovered from the ancient period by the Archaeological Department has also made this a popular tourist halt. And besides the renowned Hoysaleshwara Temple, there are many Jain temples in and around Halebid like those devoted to Shantinath, Adinath, and Parshwanath etc.

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Well, now is the time for your tour across the India and you are all set to experience the enriched Indian historical background this time. When you were just shuffling through the pages of the travel magazine to decide, one of your friends told you about the heritage destinations in Karnataka (India). He was there recently and he was amazed with what he found out. Of course, you are curious to go there.

And you are right about the heritage destinations in Karnataka. When it comes to the one thing called heritage, whether you are looking for cultural, historical or communal heritage, Karnataka is the place for you. Starting from the Bandipur National Park to the Coorg festival, Karnataka provides you with the ultimate experience of being in India. Of course, a tour to India is cheap and no doubt about that. But then again, the value that you get against that money is just OVERWHELMING.

Whether it is the natural attractions or the local customs, everything has an Indian flavor to it, which you get to taste in Karnataka. And one of the most popular and visited tourist heritage destinations in Karnataka is Aihole. If you are a student of Indian history, you certainly have heard about its name and have known of its historical significance.

In one sentence, Aihole is one of few centers of the Early Chalukya artistry. Aihole is located on the western side of Badami, which is situated a few hundred miles away from Bangalore (the current capital of Karnataka), and on the eastern side of Pattadakal. Aihole was the first capital of the great early Chalukya dynasty. Later it was transferred to Vatapi (now known as Badami). It was done under the rule of Pulakeshi I.

Aihole is famous for its temple architecture. The first phase of the temple architecture was around the sixth century and then it resurrected during the twelfth century.

One of the most prominent temples here is the Ravanaphadi temple. Dating back to the second part of the seventh century, this temple was rock cut and apart from the two mantapams contained in it, it has a Lord Shiva shrine.

Two of the most popular groups of temples are group Kontigudi and group Galganatha.

Kontigudi is a group of three temples. One of them is the Lad Khan temple. The other two are the Huchiappayya math and the Huchiappayyagudi temple.

The Lad Khan is formed of two mantapams and one Lord Shiva shrine. The first mantapa includes 12 carved pillars. The second mandapa is formed of pillars that create two concentric squares. The Huchiappayyagudi temple is one of its kinds. Unlike the other Lad Khan temple, it has got a curvilinear tower over its sanctum and it comes with some of the best carving examples in the world of temple architecture.

The Galganatha cluster of temples is only one of those thirty on the Malaprabha riverbank. It has a main shrine of Lord Shiva, with a curvilinear tower and images of Yamuna and Ganga carved on the entrance.

There was a little development (or you can call it evolution) with the Huchimalligudi temple that was built around the eighth century. The only difference was that it had an antechamber (ardhamantapam) attached next to the shrine.

One of the best-planned and most popular Aihole temples is the Durga temple. It had a semi-circle outgrown structure called apse, appended in its temple structure, which comprised of a high built adisthana and a shikhara (tower). There are two mantapams, viz. sabhamandapa and mukhamandapa, which formed the pillared corridor. Another of the most popular temples is the Meguti Jain temple. It is located on a hillock, on a raised platform. You reach there by a flight of stairs that take you either to the mukhamandapa or to the roof where you reach the main shrine. From there, you can have a bird’s view on the plain with all the other clusters of temples as well. According to historical records, it was probably built around the 634 CE, and had some relation with Kalidasa.

Anyway, that’s a lot of food for thought about Aihole. The rest you can always find by visiting the place and man, you would never forget your visit over there.

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