Badami

Badami, located in the Bagalkot district of North Karnataka, was the capital of the Chalukya Dynasty. It is situated at the mouth of a beautiful ravine, flanked on either side by beautiful sandstone hills.

Badami once a royal capital of the Chalukyas is now a sleepy town in Bagalkot district of Karnataka. The town was known as Vatapi previously. It is settled in a valley at the base of a furrowed, red arenaceous rock that rings Agastya lake. Badami is a place which is full of cave temples, entryways, fortresses, dedications and carvings.
The name Vatapi has origin in the Vatapi legend of Ramayana relating to Sage Agastya.[citation needed] There were two demon siblings Vatapi and Ilvala. They used to kill all mendicants by tricking them in a peculiar way. The elder Ilvala would turn Vatapi into a ram and would offer its meat to the guest. As soon as the person ate the meat, Ilvala would call out the name of Vatapi. As he had a boon that whomsoever Ilvala calls would return from even the netherland, Vatapi would emerge ripping through the body of the person, thus killing him. Their trick worked until Sage Agastya countered them by digesting Vatapi before Ilvala could call for him, thus ending the life of Vatapi at the hands of Ilvala. Two of the hills in Badami represent the demons Vatapi and Ilvala.
It is also believed that name Badami has come from colour of its stone(badam -Almond).


The Badami Cave Temples - History
The Badami cave temples are an early example of the Chalukya style of architecture. It was during the early Chalukyan period that temple architectural styles were evolved.
Badami is the site of the 6th-7th century Brahmanical and Jain cave temples. The temples are cut out of solid rock with elaborate interior decorations that speak volumes of art and architecture of that period. There are 4 cave temples connected with each other with a flight of stairs.


The First Cave

The first temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. You would have to climb about 40 steps to reach it. Built around 578 AD, this is believed to be the earliest of the four temples. This cave depicts Shiva in his dancing form – as Nataraja depicted with eighteen arms. There are no less than 81 different dancing poses of Nataraja depicted in this cave. The first cave has gigantic carvings of Ardhanareeswara and Harira manifestations of Shiva in bas relief.

There are also reliefs of Ganapati, Shanmukha and Mahishasuramardhini, and may be the oldest in Badami. It is made of red sandstone and has a hall with numerous pillars and a square shaped sanctum hollowed in the control back wall.


The Second Cave

This cave temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Here he is depicted in the magnificent Trivikrama form, where he is measuring the earth with one foot, and the sky with the other, with a third food resting on the head of Mahabali.

It is reached through a flight of 64 stairs from the first one. On its ceiling, are carvings of Vishnu on Garuda and several other scenes from the puranas.

The Third Cave

The third rock cut temple is reached from the 2nd temple through a flight of 60 steps. It is a 100 feet deep cave, with inscriptions dating this Vishnu temple to 578 CE during, the period of Kiritivarma Chalukya.

This temple is also dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Here he is represented in various forms – as Vamana, the dwarf, as Trivikrama, an enormous entity measuring the world; as Narasimha, the man-lion; and as Varaha, lifting up Mother Earth from the sea. It also has a wonderful statue of Vishnu sitting on the serpent Adisesha.

The cave also has carved images of the Narasimha and Trivikrama avataras of Vishnu. There are also murals depicting the divine marriage of Shiva and Parvati.

The Fourth Cave

Cave temple 4 relates to 6th century Jainism, dedicated to the Lord Mahavira . He is depicted in a unique sitting posture. This is considered to be latest of the four temples, and it was built about 100 years after the other three temples. There is a carving of the Tirthankara Parshavnatha (with a serpent at his feet).

Many new temple building styles were introduced, of which constructing rock-cut cave temples was one type. The Badami cave temples are an example of this type of evolving architecture. It is one of the most beautiful examples of early South Indian temple architecture.

Founded in 540 A.D. by Pulikesi I, Badami served as the capital of the Chalukyas. The Chalukyas ruled most of Karnataka, before the Rashtrakutas. These temples mark the emergence of the Chalukya style of temple architecture, which is a nice blend of the North Indian Nagara style and the South Indian Dravidian style.
The Chalukyas who had ruled Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh during 6th and 8th centuries had Badami as their capital. The greatest among the Chalukyas was Pulakeshi II who ruled between 610-642 AD. He defeated many kings and Mahendra Verman I, the Pallava king, was one among them. The state was founded by him in 540 AD.

The Badami Fort

The Badami fort is located two kilometers from the town. Besides its other attractions like the huge granary and an underground chamber, it houses one of the oldest Shiva temples in the region – Malegitti Shiva.

Perched on top of the hill is the fort with the Upper and Lower Shivalayas. The Upper Shivalaya, built by Pulakesan II, a devotee of Lord Vishnu is marked by sculpted tales from mythology on its outer walls. Look for the lion and elephant heads atop the temple steps. The Lower Shivalaya was raised to Lord Ganesh. To its north a 16th century cannon looks down on the township. The watchtower, a little further on, is believed to date to the 14th century.

The Agasthya Tirtha

This is a lake situated at the foot of the hill that houses the cave temples. It is famous because the water in the lake is believed to have great healing powers


How to Reach :
Bus:
The Badami Cave temples are extremely famous and they attract a lot of tourists. Badami is well connected through many bus routes.
City buses are the easiest mode of local transport in Badami. You can opt for city buses while travelling within Badami as they cover almost every part of the town and have a very extensive reach. It is also better to know the routes and bus numbers beforehand; as this will help you make your commute through the town of Badami easier. Bus fares will range around Rs 5 to 10 in Badami, depending on the distance covered.

The town also has a railway station. Belgaum, located at a distance of 150 km from Badami, houses the nearest airport.