Badami cave temples - Amazing Ancient Rock Cut Temples
- Rock Cut cave Temples Of Badami in Karnataka, India.
- Badami, the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka in the 6th to 8th centuries, lies at the mouth of a ravine with rocky hills on either side and a town tank in which water from the ravine flows. The town is known for its ancient cave temples carved out of the sandstone hills above.
- These caves are considered an example of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya Architecture.
- The Badami Cave Temples are composed of 'four caves', all carved out of the soft Badami sandstone.
- The cave temples date back to 6th and 7th century. Their architecture is a blend of North Indian Nagara Style and South Indian Dravidian style.
Places to see in Badami:
Naganath Temple:
10 Kms, located in a forest on the way to Mahakuta, it is one of the early Chalukyan temples dedicated to Shiva.
Aihole:
46 Kms. There is a remarkable group of temples here built during the reign of Chalukyan rulers, dating from the sixth to the eighth centuries.
Tranquil lake:
Take a dip in this green tranquil lake. It is said to have healing properties. According to a popular story, King Kushataraya was cured of leprosy here.
Archaeological Museum:
Museum with Shiva's bull, "Nandi" at its entrance overlooking the dammed lake is worthwhile for the scholarly. This museum is closed on Fridays.
Badami Fort:
2 Kms. Strategically situated on top of the hill, the fort encloses large granaries, a treasury impressive temples on top of the northern end of the hill. Malegitti Shivalaya, perhaps the oldest temple of the lot, is dedicated to the benign aspect of Shiva as the garland maker. Placed on the summit of a rocky hill, the temple is built of stone, finely joined without mortar, & with Dravidian tower. The lower Shivalaya has a Dravidian tower of which only the sanctum remains now.
Main attraction:
A number of annual temple festivals are held in towns near Badami. The annual temple festival, held at Banashankari, in the month of January-February is worth visiting; so are the Virupaksha Temple Car Festival and Mallikarjuna Temple Festival held in Pattadakal during March-April.
The Badami cave temples are a complex of Hindu and Jain cave temples located in Badami, a town in the Bagalkot district in northern part of Karnataka, India. The caves are important examples of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya architecture, and the earliest date from the 6th century. Badami was previously known as Vataapi Badami, the capital of the early Chalukya dynasty, which ruled much of Karnataka from the 6th to the 8th century. Badami is situated on the west bank of a man-made lake ringed by an earthen wall with stone steps; it is surrounded on the north and south by forts built in later times.
The Badami cave temples represent some of the earliest known examples of Hindu temples in the Deccan region. They along with the temples in Aihole transformed the Malaprabha River valley into a cradle of temple architecture that influenced the components of later Hindu temples elsewhere in India.
Caves 1 to 4 are in the escarpment of the hill in soft Badami sandstone formation, to the south-east of the town. In Cave 1, among various sculptures of Hindu divinities and themes, a prominent carving is of the Tandava-dancing Shiva as Nataraja. Cave 2 is mostly similar to Cave 1 in terms of its layout and dimensions, featuring Hindu subjects of which the relief of Vishnu as Trivikrama is the largest. The largest cave is Cave 3, featuring Vishnu-relate, and it is also the most intricately carved cave in the complex. Cave 4 is dedicated to revered figures of Jainism. Around the lake, Badami has additional caves of which one may be a Buddhist cave. Another cave was discovered in 2015, about 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the four main caves, with 27 Hindu carvings.
- Best of Badami Rock Cut Cave Temples
