Badami:
"Badami formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for its rock cut structural temples. It is located in a ravine at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake. Badami has been selected as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India."
"Badami formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for its rock cut structural temples. It is located in a ravine at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake. Badami has been selected as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India."
Idea of trip to Badami started during our last trip to Dandeli during a conversation about the important places in northern part of Karnataka. Winter being better time to visit this place because of extreme heat in summer, we planned to visit at the end of the monsoon season.Once the dates were finalised, made the necessary bookings for the room. Plan was to stay in Badami and cover Badami, Aihole and Pattadakallu.
Route map
Day 1(24/09/15) :
We woke up by 4:00 AM and left home at 5:00 AM. Road till Chitradurga is in excellent condition and the drive was breeze with very less traffic early in the morning. Once we took deviation at Chitradurga, road became narrower and was filled with potholes. This road is almost truck only road with hardly any cars around. This route has only Dhaba's as food joint options and all of them open only by noon. So our search for breakfast ended in Kustagi at 11:00 AM. After breakfast we continued our onward journey and reached Badami by 1:00 PM. After checking in had lunch in resort and rested for a while. We left our room at 3:45 PM and reached the Badami cave temple at 4:00 PM.
Badami Museum
Lord Vishnu statue in the cave
One of the many cave temples
Badami cave temple
bird's view of Agasthya lake
We explored all the caves and waited for the sun to go down. We left from the temple at 6:00 PM and returned to room. After early dinner retired to bed.
Day 2(25/09/15) :
Pattadakallu :
"Pattadakal also spelled Paṭṭadakallu is a World Heritage site, a village and an important tourist centre in the state of Karnataka and is located on the left bank of the Malaprabha River in Bagalkot district and is 22 km from Badami and 514 km from Bangalore. It is 22 km from Badami and about 10 km from Aihole, both of which are well known for Chalukya monuments. The Pre-Chalukya historical and Archaeological site Bachinagudda is also near Pattadakal.
Pattadakal, site where Badami Chalukya kings were coronated, was the capital of the Chalukya dynasty of Karnataka in Southern India between the 6th and 8th centuries. The Chalukyas built many temples here between the 7th and 8th century. There are ten temples at Pattadakal, including a Jain sanctuary surrounded by numerous small shrines and plinths in fusion of various Indian architectural styles (Rekha, Nagara, Prasada and Dravida Vimana). Four temples were built in Chalukya Dravida style, four in Nagara style of Northern India, while the Papanatha temple in a fusion of the two idioms. In all, nine Shiva temples and a Jaina basadi (called Jain Narayana temple built in the 9th century by the Rashtrakutas), situated along the northern course of a river."
We woke up at 6:00 AM, freshened up, had our breakfast and left resort at 8:40 AM. we reached Pattadakal at 9:15 AM. Road condition is horrible, passes through a lot of villages on the way and is filled with potholes.
At Pattadakallu all the temples are situated with in one compound wall and is well maintained. There is a nominal entry fee as well.
We spent couple of hours imagining the glory days of this place, clicked a lot of pictures and left back to Badami. On our way back stopped near the field and bought some onions from the farmers. Also stopped for pictures of sunflower field before reaching back to Badami.
We reached our resort just in time for lunch. Had lunch and rested for a while. Though it is winter afternoons are generally very hot so we preferred air-conditioned comfort of the resort room. Post coffee at 4:15 PM we went to explore Badami again. We went to Agastya lake. This part of Badami is not maintained at all. Monuments around the lake is adjacent to houses and the residents use the lake and temple as their private property. Also we recommend not to drive all the way to the lake as the road is very narrow. It is advisable to park the vehicle near the main road and walk about half a kilometre to reach the lake.
We woke up at 6:30 AM, got ready and left resort by 8:30 AM. This day was Karnataka bundh and we were sceptical about how the situation would be. We stayed out of trouble and reached Aihole in an hours time. Here the monuments are spread across the village and most of them are not maintained at all. We drove from one monument to another.
"Pattadakal also spelled Paṭṭadakallu is a World Heritage site, a village and an important tourist centre in the state of Karnataka and is located on the left bank of the Malaprabha River in Bagalkot district and is 22 km from Badami and 514 km from Bangalore. It is 22 km from Badami and about 10 km from Aihole, both of which are well known for Chalukya monuments. The Pre-Chalukya historical and Archaeological site Bachinagudda is also near Pattadakal.
Pattadakal, site where Badami Chalukya kings were coronated, was the capital of the Chalukya dynasty of Karnataka in Southern India between the 6th and 8th centuries. The Chalukyas built many temples here between the 7th and 8th century. There are ten temples at Pattadakal, including a Jain sanctuary surrounded by numerous small shrines and plinths in fusion of various Indian architectural styles (Rekha, Nagara, Prasada and Dravida Vimana). Four temples were built in Chalukya Dravida style, four in Nagara style of Northern India, while the Papanatha temple in a fusion of the two idioms. In all, nine Shiva temples and a Jaina basadi (called Jain Narayana temple built in the 9th century by the Rashtrakutas), situated along the northern course of a river."
We woke up at 6:00 AM, freshened up, had our breakfast and left resort at 8:40 AM. we reached Pattadakal at 9:15 AM. Road condition is horrible, passes through a lot of villages on the way and is filled with potholes.
At Pattadakallu all the temples are situated with in one compound wall and is well maintained. There is a nominal entry fee as well.
Jambulinga Temple
Galaganatha Temple
Sangameshwara temple
Pattadakallu
We spent couple of hours imagining the glory days of this place, clicked a lot of pictures and left back to Badami. On our way back stopped near the field and bought some onions from the farmers. Also stopped for pictures of sunflower field before reaching back to Badami.
We reached our resort just in time for lunch. Had lunch and rested for a while. Though it is winter afternoons are generally very hot so we preferred air-conditioned comfort of the resort room. Post coffee at 4:15 PM we went to explore Badami again. We went to Agastya lake. This part of Badami is not maintained at all. Monuments around the lake is adjacent to houses and the residents use the lake and temple as their private property. Also we recommend not to drive all the way to the lake as the road is very narrow. It is advisable to park the vehicle near the main road and walk about half a kilometre to reach the lake.
Boothanatha temple
Agasthya lake
Art work represents the hunting expeditions of the kings
Sunset over Agasthya lake
We waited for the sunset and returned back to resort saddened looking at the way the monuments being looked after here.
Day 3(26/09/15) :
Aihole :
"Aihoḷe is a village having a historic temple complex in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India and located 510 km from Bangalore. It is known for Chalukyan architecture, with about 125 stone temples dating from 5th century CE, and is a popular tourist spot in north Karnataka. It lies to the east of Pattadakal, along the Malaprabha River, while Badami is to the west of both.
Aihoḷe was earlier known as Ayyavoḷe and Aryapura in its inscriptions. It was established in 450 CE as first capital of Chalukya kings and has about 125 stone temples, some which were constructed as experimental structures by artisans of Chalukyan period.A place known by as Morera Angadigalu near the Meguti hillocks has a large number of cysts of pre-historic period. The place was an agraharam. Aihoḷe has been described as a cradle of temple architecture. Some brick structures of pre-Chalukyan times have also been excavated in this village. "We woke up at 6:30 AM, got ready and left resort by 8:30 AM. This day was Karnataka bundh and we were sceptical about how the situation would be. We stayed out of trouble and reached Aihole in an hours time. Here the monuments are spread across the village and most of them are not maintained at all. We drove from one monument to another.
Mallikarjuna temple
Buddhist Chaitya
Ravanapadi
Around 11:45 AM we reached the main temple complex. We spent an hour here clicking pictures and left from Aihole.
Durga temple
Lad Khan temple
On our way back near Pattadakallu road was blocked because of bundh. We waited there for about half an hour but the crowd was in no mood to let tourists pass. So drove back a couple of kilometres and took a deviation and reached back resort at 2:45 PM.
Post lunch, rested for a while and relaxed around resort for rest of the evening. Had early dinner and retired for the night as we had a long drive back home the next day.
Road block near Pattadakallu because of bundh
Day 4(27/09/15) :
Woke up at 6:30 AM, got ready and after breakfast we checked out at 8:15 AM. We retured via same route of Badami - Kustagi - Hospet - Chitradurga - Bangalore. On the way had lunch at Kamt @ Sira. Once we reached Bangalore, got stuck in traffic because of rain. Finally reached home by 4:45 PM.
Resort Review :
We stayed in The Heritage Resort Badami. We tried different travel portals for booking but finally got the best deal by directly contacting the resort. A very nice place to stay just out side the Badami city with in 15 minutes of driving distance from most of the attractions of Badami. There are not many options to stay in Pattadakallu and Aihole so we had booked the same resort for our entire stay. They serve awesome south indian thali for lunch, dinner is more than average. Menu for complimentary breakfast changes on daily basis. They serve only veg food. Rooms are spacious and well maintained. Only drawback for a early riser like me was that I had to wait for my morning coffee as kitchen opens only at around 7:30 AM. Even breakfast is served only after 8:00 AM. So if you are planning a early exit factor this in.
Resort Review :
We stayed in The Heritage Resort Badami. We tried different travel portals for booking but finally got the best deal by directly contacting the resort. A very nice place to stay just out side the Badami city with in 15 minutes of driving distance from most of the attractions of Badami. There are not many options to stay in Pattadakallu and Aihole so we had booked the same resort for our entire stay. They serve awesome south indian thali for lunch, dinner is more than average. Menu for complimentary breakfast changes on daily basis. They serve only veg food. Rooms are spacious and well maintained. Only drawback for a early riser like me was that I had to wait for my morning coffee as kitchen opens only at around 7:30 AM. Even breakfast is served only after 8:00 AM. So if you are planning a early exit factor this in.
