16 years is along time, a long time to revisit a place which you promised to come back. I had been to Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal when I was doing my engineering and the trip was part of the project tour we had to undertake. But like most college students, I had not really paid attention to the explanations of the guide when we visited these places but had been awed by the monuments. It was then that I had quietly promised myself that I would return one day.
My wife had gone to Hubli for an official engagement for a day and I was surfing the net to find places of interest in and around Hubli. I chanced upon the name - Badami, which was some 100 kms away. I knew Pattadakal and Aihole were close by too. I called my wife and asked if she could take a day off after her work, on telling her the reason she was only too happy to oblige.
Next I checked on available stay options, Badami Court seemed the obvious choice, but some reviews of the place did not inspire confidence, again I surfed and discovered KSTDC had a hotel - KSTDC Mayura Chalukya, on calling up the office in Bangalore I was given the number of the hotel manager at Badami, I spoke to the gentleman, one Mr. Shanbag, he assured me that I would have a comfortable stay and yes he had rooms available.
Thursday, 11th November 2010
I left home at 5.30 am along with my mother and took the newly done up Tumkur road, the toll barrier just beyond Peenya was operational, but when I stopped to pay, I was told it was still undergoing trials so there were no charges yet.
Soon I was speeding towards Tumkur and was at Kyathsandra at 6.30 am, the "Thatte Idly" hotel was not yet open so on a hungry stomach I had to continue.
We stopped for breakfast just after Ranebennur at the A1 Plaza converted to Kamat Upacahar, the food was just about edible and a bus load of passengers left the staff confused as hell.
The NH4 till Ranebennur is in very good shape with the Chitradurga and Davangere stretches being complete, but the 2 level crossing after Ranebennur are still causing bottlenecks in an otherwise lovely road. I lost about 20 minutes in a traffic jam at the railway gate and then after it was back to good roads till Hubli.
10.30am I entered Hubli and asked for directions to Clarks Inn where I was to pick my wife up. This is a small business hotel located on the Hubli Airport road, I was given the room keys as per my wife's instructions and took a nap till lunch by which time my wife would be back from her conference.
Post Lunch, we checked out and drove towards Badami, Googlemaps on my phone showed a route which led us away from the Bagalkot highway which we were supposed to take, I chose Googlemaps over protests from both my wife and mother and 15kms later I was left staring at the end of the road and a small mud trail. Chastened I turned back and took the Bagalkot highway from Hubli.The delay and the detour meant that I forgot to top up fuel at Hubli.
I did not see any confidence inspiring petrol pumps on the way, at a place called Nergund, I came across a Club HP pump, I decided to top up and to my surprise he even accepted cards, but I had to speak to a person from Icici bank to get the swipe machine operational and i was guided over the phone till the end of transaction, the petrol pump guys were eager to charge the cost to the card and were hesitant to accept cash if the swipe machine was not operational. they said they hardly get customers who want to pay by card in those parts and wanted to learn e-commerece.
The heavy rains in the week before had taken it's toll on the roads after Nergund, in one place a small bridge was submerged and I had to drive through 2 feet of flowing water, the road looked unpassable as I did not know how deep the water was, but an Indica cab drove through before me and that encouraged me to cross it.
We reached Badami at around 6 pm, it was already getting dark and there was no power in the town, we had some anxious moments trying to find the Hotel in the dark and finally reached the place which is slightly away from town. The hundred plus kilometres from Hubli had taken me almost 3 hours.
The room was typical to government accomodation, large and basic, but very clean, over dinner I requested the hotel manager to get me a guide who would accompany us the following day to take us around the tourist spots. He said he'd get me the seniormost guide in the place and soon we were discussing the next day's plans with Mr. Mallikarjun Kalmath, a gentleman with an MA in history and with 35 years of guiding experience, he said we will start by 7.30 am the following day and would start the tour.
Friday, 12th November 2010
We were up and ready by 7.30 am and our guide landed soon after, we had breakfast in a hotel near the main bus stand and our first destination was Aihole.
Now a brief history about Aihole as borrowed from an internet search result:
Once the capital of the early Chalukyan dynasty (6th to 8th centuries), Aihole is a picturesque village on the banks of the Malaprabha river. Variously called Ayyavole & Aryapura in the inscriptions, Aihole is historically famous as the cradle of Hindu temple architecture. There are about 125 temples divided into 22 groups scattered all over the villages and nearby fields. Most of these temples were built between the 6th & 8th centuries and some even earlier.Only mere traces of a fort dating from the 6th century can be seen today.
Durga Temple
The temple derives its name from Durgadagudi meaning 'temple near the fort'. Dedicated to Vishnu, the temple appears to be a Hindu adaptation of the Buddhist chaitya (hall) with its apsidal end. Standing on a high platform with a 'rekhanagara' type of Shikhara, it is the most elaborately decorated monument in Aihole. The columns at the entrance and within the porch are carved with figures and ornamental relief's. The temple appears to be a late 7th or early 8th century construction.
Ladh Khan Temple
The experimental nature of temple building by the Chalukyas is best elaborated in the Ladh Khan Temple, located south of the Durga Temple. Not knowing how to build a temple, they built it in the Panchayat hall style. The windows were filled up with lattice work in the northern style and the sanctum was added later on. The sanctum is built against the back wall and the main shrine has a Shivalinga along with a Nandi. Above the center of the hall, facing the sanctum, is a second smaller sanctum with images carved on the outer walls. The temple, built about 450 AD, gets its name from a Muslim prince who converted it into his residence.
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