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I took a bus from Hampi(see previous post on Hampi) to Badami via Ilkal. I stayed there for next four days, using Badami as a base to go around Pattadakal and Aihole. While I was there, I also visited tiny temple villages - Banashankari and Mahakoota.

I arrived at Badami around 4.30 in the evening and immediately headed towards the caves. I was up for a surprise when I reached there. Thought I had seen many pictures of the caves, I was not ready for the size of the rocks and its deep colors. The giant rock in which the caves were carved are probably a good hundred meter tall from the ground. And the sandstone has a deep reddish color that looks very charming with the evening light. Agastyamuni or Agastya Lake was yet another surprise. It is a huge lake with rocky hills surrounding it on three sides and sandstone temples at the feet of these hills. It is worth being there in the mornings and evenings of winter.

Agastyamuni Lake

One of the cave temples

Inside the temple

Next morning, I woke up early and walked up to the top of the hill opposite to the cave temple, on the other side of the lake. I was on the top a few minutes before sunrise and sat down at a strategic point to witness sun coming up from the top.

Views from the top of the hill

A little later, I noticed a darga on the top of the hill, where a small bunch of people had already gathered early in the morning and cleaning up the premise, supervised by an old man. I walked across the Darga looking for a good place to sit and spend sometime. A few monkeys who inhabited the ficus tree next to the Darga seemed to be unhappy to see me approaching them, but nevertheless put up with me after grunting a bit. I sat far from the Darga, but at a distance where I could see them and occasionally when someone talked loudly, hear them. Prayers started sometime after eight and a priest started chanting. To my surprise, there was a mix of pooja to Hindu and Muslim gods and prayers switched between Sanskrit and Persian! The priest went on to the sound of a bell saying ‘Om Namahshivaya’ followed up with ‘Om Ali Bhai Namah’(I hope I remember the name right), and after sometime, would switch to Persian. I was later to learn that a Hindu and Muslim saint stayed together in the premise, which explained the whole thing.

Terraces of Badami’s houses, seen from the hill

One of the temples on the top of the hill

I spent a few more hours walking around the hill exploring the ancient temples on the hill and looking at the lake, cave temples in the opposite direction and getting a bird’s eye view of Badami town. The way back to the town took me throw narrow gaps in the deep red sandstones, which is incredibly pretty.

Way to the hill from the town

Way to the hill from the town

That evening, I walked along the lake, along the Bhoothanatha(lord of demons - Shiva) temple complex and the ASI museum. I did not go into the museum, but the museum’s structure is built nicely to complement the premise and the ancient structures of Badami, instead of the usual pale yellow government buildings. Bhoothanatha temple is on a majestic setup with a hill rising behind it and the grand Agastyamuni lake in front of it. I sat on the steps of the lake watching the U shaped hill, ancient Bhoothanatha temple and the cave temples till the sun went down.

The grand setup of Bhoothanatha temple

While I sat there, two brash young kids came into me and started a conversation. They lost interest in me in a few minutes and looked around for something to amuse themselves. A few goats were passing by, and one of them chased a goat with another one running right behind him. They caught the goat, pulled it to a side, laughing all the time and started milking it! A few seconds later, I think they did not find that exercise worthy either, and let off the goat and walked away laughing out loudly.

Of the four days I was there, I spent another morning visiting the caves, and the Malegitthi Shivalaya temple on the hill opposite to the caves. Bhoothanatha temple was easily the most impressive of the temples I have seen in Badami, and the steep sandstone rocks are very beautiful to look at. Walking among these sandstone paths is a nice feeling.

Malegitthi Shivalaya

About Badami’s Temples

The templats of Badami are set on a U shaped hill with Agastyamuni Lake in the center of it. At the mouth of the U(west) is a mound that was built to create the lake and this separates the lake and Badami town. To one arm of the U(south), carved to the walls of the hill are the cave temples. Bhoothanatha temple is located at the bottom of the U(east). Malegitthi Shivalaya temple and a few unnamed temples without idols are on the northers arm of the hill.

Of the four cave temples, third one is the largest and has some fine carvings

There are two major set of temples in Badami - the cave temples and Bhoothanatha temples. Interestingly, of the four cave temples, three are dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu while the fourth one is a Jain temple. Temple 3 is the largest and has some fine carvings.

Inside the fourth temple, which is a Jain temple

The temples were built by the kings of Chalukya dynasty who ruled a large part of South India from 6th to 8th century. Badami was the capital of Chalukyas.

Badami’s Monkeys

Badami has a huge population of monkeys, and I had heard a lot about monkey menace. I did not get to see much of this in the first three days. At the darga where there were many monkeys, they seemed harmless and did not bother me. However, on the last day when I went back to the cave temples again, they were creating a few problems. Someone told me about a monkey flicking an expensive digicam, and warned me about it. I saw a monkey pulling off a long bunch of Kanakambara flowers that a lady was wearing. One of them even tried to see if it can open my bag. They can create problems if you are not careful, but fortunately are not aggressive enough to scare you.

Conti

nued at: Banashankari Temple

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