Badami Cave Temples: The 6th Century Chalukyan Wonder

In the 6th century, the skilled artisans of the Chalukya kingdom changed a sandstone mountain into one of the best examples of Indian rock-cut architecture. While this place might not carry the tag of a UNESCO World Heritage site, but it certainly laid the foundation for many heritage sites across the country. I am talking about the cave temples of Badami that span both Hinduism and Jainism or to be more specific Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Jainism and may be even Buddhism.



These cave temples of the secular Chalukyan kingdom represent some of the earliest known examples of Hindu temples. Not only are these temples beautiful, the entire canyon like setting has a WOW effect. On one side are the cave temples and on the opposite side is Badami fort that was built at a later period in time. In between these 2 canyons is a pond and a 5th century Shiva (Bhutanatha) temple and the entire surrounding is just a beautiful sandstone canyon.



The entire setting is so gorgeous that many Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi movies have been shot here. Personally, I love these cave temples, the fort, the entire Badami town and the temple cities of Pattadakkal and Aihole nearby. I fell in love with them when I first visited them in 2005. Those pleasant memories came flooding back when my luxurious Golden Chariot train stopped here on its journey across South India.



Badami is your dusty Indian town with lush green countryside. It has an interesting mix of Hinduism and Islam, which means you come across beautiful mosques and Islamic monuments while you explore the ancient temples located in and around the town. Returning to the Badami cave temples…The first thing that you notice about it is its sheer size. From the outside, you don’t expect to find cave temples, rather you expect some kind of a canyon walk. But, once you climb about 15 or 20 so steps, all you can do is gaze in wonder at the painstaking beautiful sculpting.



The first cave temple that you come across is dedicated to Lord Shiva and it’s star attraction is the dancing pose of Shiva or Natarajar. This tandav dance sculpture depicts 81 dance positions of Shiva. Next to is Mahisasura Mardini, where goddess Durga is slaying the buffalo demon Mahisasura. Then, there is the beautiful Ardhanarisara (half Shiva and half Parvati) and the beautiful pillar and ceiling work. Deep inside the cave is the sanctum sanctorum that houses the Shiva Linga.



As you climb from Cave 1, you come across Cave 2, which is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. In this cave, one can see Trivikrama, the Varaha avatar where he is saving Bhudevi (Earth), many avatars of Lord Krishna (from his birth, from his youth, Krishna with gopikas, Krishna with cows), Gajalaskmi, Brahma and many others. This cave also houses many fresco paintings. Each of these sculptures are believed to be geometrically symmetric, which depict the skill level of the artisans of that era.



Next is Cave 3, which is possibly the most beautiful and intricately carved one. It has gorgeous sculptures of Ananatasayana Vishnu, Adisesha Vishnu, Narasimha Avatar, Hari Hara statue and Trivikrama. In addition, it highlights some of the best ceiling work of all cave temples. This ceiling work is special because the artisan would have had to lie down straight under the ceiling for days, if not months or years to painstaking chisel out the rock to create these beautiful visual stories. The pillars are also most ornate in this cave temple. One can spend hours discovering the art and history living on the wall of this cave temple.



Cave 4 is dedicated to the Jain tirthankaras. Mahavir, Indrabhuti Gautama, Baahubali and Parshvanatha are the giant sculptures here. The tiny ones are idols of Yakshas, Yakshis, Padmavathi and other tirthankaras that are engraved on the inner pillars and walls. There is also a cave 5 that is dedicated to Buddhism, but this is off bounce for visitors these days.



This entire Chalukyan temple corridor is a special experience and is a must visit for all temple lovers. Badami cave temples have the aura of canyons and ravines added to its temple charms. Pattadakkal, located by the banks of the Malaprabha river is known for being the cradle of temple architecture and Aihole is known for designing tanks. Overall, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakkal put together give you a great insight into the Chalukyan way of life.



And when you are in this part of Karnataka, do not miss to dig into some of the delicious local creations – Jowar Roti, home made yoghurt, home made buttermilk, chutney podi, Kaalu saago and Soppu saaru. The food is so unbelievably good that I would just visit this region for its food. It is even special if you love spicy food.

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Don’t Miss to Taste the Traditional Lunch on your next Badami Holiday

Experiencing local food is an essential component of my travels. I am limited in my capacity as a vegetarian, but I try my level best to overcome this handicap by being extremely bold with my food choices. Most of my best culinary experiences have come on the street where the local flavors reign supreme.



Last weekend, I was at Badami and Pattadakkal, the place that is known for its 7th century cave temples and 8th century school of temple architecture respectively. Most of you would not know this, but Pattadakkal is my favorite temple complex in Karnataka and this region’s local lunch is my favorite lunch in Karnataka. Every time I visit this region, I ensure that I have the traditional lunch here. This traditional lunch holds as much importance to me as the UNESCO World Heritage site temple complex itself. I know this might be a bit too much, but I really love this local food.



And the best way to enjoy this traditional lunch comprising of jola roti (maize based bread), hesaru belle (Green gram), sagu (slight curry based seasonal vegetables), kaara podi (spicy powder comprising of garlic, brinjal and spices), majjigai (butter milk) and massuru (yoghurt) is to look out for a local woman with a huge aluminium pot like vessel on her head. These women who live in surrounding villages cook this food every morning at their homes and bring it to the temple complex for selling. Thus, there is true local flavor written all over it. This local North Karnataka lunch is sumptuous and offers a perfect way to reenergize after a walk through the temples in the warm sun. And the best part is that they come extremely cheap. Now, the next time you are in Badami, Aihole and Pattadakkal, don’t look for a restaurant when you are hungry, but look for this traditional food cooked by the local village women.

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Prototyping Temple Architecture at Pattadakkal, Karnataka, India

After admiring the architecture of the cave temples of Badami, I decided to pay a visit to Pattadakkal, Chalukya’s cradle of temple architecture.


I rode 30 kms from Badami to reach Pattadakkal, the second capital of the Chalukya dynasty. If the temple architecture at Badami and Aihole is mind blowing, then the carvings, sculptures and the temple design at Pattadakkal is out of the world.


Pattadakkal, which is a World Heritage site, is the prototyping playground of temple architecture. The entire heritage site resembles a large drawing sheet with different drawings, each better than the other, while keeping their uniqueness.


As I entered this playground of temple architecture, I was amazed at the number of lingams that were strewn all around. They were of all sizes. Some of them were cut off during war, while others had withstood the assault of time.


To add, each lingam seemed to have been sculpted out of a different type of rock, black granite, sandstone, soapstone, etc. There were a couple of large ones with inscriptions on them from top to bottom.


The temples on this campus include the: Kadasiddeshwara Temple, Galaganath Temple, Virupaksha Temple, Papanath Temple, Mallikarjuna Temple and others.


The 8th century Virupaksha and the Mallikarjuna temples are the most important. It is very heartening to see temple civilizations older than Hampi, still exist in their true shape in spite of the vagaries of nature and time.


Each temple has their own unique style of architecture. Some of them had square roofs,  some have curvilinear spires, while some have receding tiers.


The one thing that amazed me the most was the monolithic statue of Nandi in front of the Virupaksha Temple. One, it was sculpted so fine, that there are absolutely no sharp edges. Second, this Nandi, made out of black granite, in the 8th century and polished in the 8th century, still gleams till date.
 

Everything in and on the Virupaksha and the Mallikarjuna temple is carved in style. If the outsides made for some complex sculpting, then the insides made some some great story telling visually.


There were carvings on the ceilings and each pillar was sculpted in detail. Scenes from Hindu Epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata can be seen here.


For example, there was a scene from the Mahabharata where Lord Krishna is giving sermon to Arjuna. Then, there is a scene from Vaikuntam where all the devas come to Lord Vishnu seeking his help.


Then, there are these additional scenes from various Hindu mythologies that we have heard from our mothers as we grew up. The beauty is that I could correlate these carvings to my childhood bedtime stories. That’s how vivid they are.


The entire place was gleaming in the sun and it was such a revelation to see such detail and thought go into temple architecture.


And as goes with Badami, the ideal time to visit this place is during the winter months from October through February.


Pattadakkal - A definite spot in the bucket list of the temple architecture lover and even for the travel explorer. 
 

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Admiring the Temple Architecture at the former Chalukya Capital of Badami, Karnataka, India

I rode from Hampi through country roads to reach Badami by late afternoon. After some searching, I took shelter at a Karnataka tourism certified hotel next to the bus stand.


Badami, the erstwhile capital of the Chalukyas is situated in the Bijapur district of Karnataka and is about 502 km NW of Bangalore.


It was a fine winter morning and I left my hotel next to the bus stand with the plan to visit 3 places – the famous cave temples of Badami, the Bhutanatha Temple beside the Agastya Teertha Tank and Tipu’s Fort.


I rode to the cave temple entrance, parked my bike and bought my entry tickets. These tickets were valid for all the temples of Badami for that day. Additionally, I paid for the services of a tourist guide to help me understand and appreciate this historic structure better.


My guide told me that there were four cave temples, 3 of them dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva and the fourth one dedicated to Jainism.


At the first cave temple, I was greeted with the divine view of Ardhanareeshwara sculpture (a Shiva Parvathi combination) where the right portion resembles Shiva and the left represents Parvathi. There is a very beautifully carved Nataraja sculpture that has 18 hands. My guide used his handkerchief to reveal 81 different poses of the dancing Shiva.


The entire cave was chiselled beautifully including the entrance, the corridors, the ceilings, the idols and the sculptures themselves.


Next, we made our way to Cave 2, which is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and has fabulous sculptures of the Varaha and Trivikarma avatars. The guide also told me that the Varaha sculpture was the emblem of the Chalukyas.

Cave three is also dedicated to the Hindu deities. It has sculptures of Vishnu, Shiva, Hanuman and Indra. From this cave one can get a breathtaking view of the Agastya Terrtha Tank, the Badami Town and the Bhutanatha Temple below on the other side of the tank.


Cave four, dedicated to Jainism, has stunning sculptures of the tirthankaras, including the first, Adinath. It also contains a huge idol of Parshwanatha.


After seeing all the four cave temples, I realized that one, the Chalukyas were spiritually intense and two, they embraced all religions and gods.


Next on my agenda was the Bhutanatha temple, which I could spot from the top of the cave temples. It was on the other side of the Agastya Teertha Tank.


As I was slowly climbing down the steps, I noticed a huge commotion. Upon reaching closer, I found out that the monkeys were creating a racket. The monkeys of Badami are known for their notoriety and are known to steal a lot of stuff from the tourists.


The Bhutanatha temple proudly stood against the backdrop of the soapstone hills. The architecture was as intense as that of the neighbouring cave temples.


The surrounding lake and the hills in the background give this temple a “straight out of the post card” look.


After offering my prayers here, I proceeded to the fort of Tipu Sultan built in the 18th century on top of the Badami hills. Enroute, I passed a cave with Buddhist carvings.


The fort is pretty much in dilapidated condition, except for some of the canons, which have stood the test of time and gleam in the bright sunshine even till date.


I also went and examined small hut like chambers on the fort, which I guess were meant for hiding and shooting. There are a couple of small temples inside the fort and a small tank to store water.


At some corners of the fort, one can get excellent views of the entire Badami town and the  soapstone hills that surround it. At some stretches,the rocks and the hills look pretty similar to the Grand Canyon in the US, though they lack the depth.


Overall, Badami is one quiet town, with great history and lineage. It gets baked in summer, so winter months are the ideal tourist season.


I would strongly recommend people to visit this place and admire the rich temple architecture here before this gives in to time and turns into ruins!!

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