Badami and Vijaynagar
I rushed through Maharashtra. Nasik and Murud were the only stops. Murud is an ordinary coastal town. The Murud - Janjira fort though is an architectural marvel. Built on an island in middle of the Arabian Sea, it spans 22 acres. So strong and intelligent is the construction that it was never conquered. Shivaji and Shambhaji gloriously failed in their attempts to conquer this small fort off the coast of their mighty empire. The fort still houses the 22 ton Kalakbaangdi Cannon. The 3rd biggest cannon of India had a range of 12 km.
The small town of Badami in Karnataka was my next stop. For the first time language was a problem. My Tom Tom navigator mislead me again. Asking for directions only brought confused looks. By evening I finally figured out new communication method. Mention only destination, concentrate only on odd English words and hand gestures. Late evening I reached Badami.
Next morning I headed to the famous caves. Mrs Farookhi, a cheerful lady with a history major took me through the caves. Importantly, she spoke good hindi. Badami was capital of the first Chalukya Dynasty from 6th to 8th century AC. The king saw Ajanta and Ellora Caves during one of his conquests and fell in love with them. He tried to replicate them in his capital. Four in all, the sandstone cave temples took seven years each to construct. Although dedicated to different Gods, many motifs carved in were similar. The artists loved the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and repeated their stories in these carvings liberally. After enjoying the first cave, rest of the experience was lot like the new Rohit Shetty film.
The Patadakal temples built a little later were more interesting. Another king on his travel saw the Aryan temples of the north and was intrigued by the difference in the Aryan and Dravidian Temples. In one complex he commissioned both the temples to be built to signify the unity in his empire - insisted the guide. The complex has seven temples, four Aryan structures, one Dravidian structure, and two mixed structures. The main temple is a mix of the two styles. It is a grand and beautiful Shiva temple. Oddly it had carvings depicting the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Although very beautiful, perhaps these were the initial signs of the Indo-Aryan Civilization getting a bit stale in its imagination.
Next was a short trip to Hampi or as Krishna Deva Raya had named it - Vijaynagar. The spread of the ruins is the first thing one would notice. The empire thrived from 13th to 16th century. It was one of the richest and most powerful kingdoms in the world at that time. The city was made of granite.
The main temple is the Vitthala Temple, dedicated to lord Vishnu. It has a beautiful dance floor where it is said that different granite pillars made sound of different musical instruments. The tiny village has so many structures of the past that even a week would do little justice to it. I spent three hours walking through the royal complex, main market, and three out of the infinite temples, just enough to get a mild visual of that time. The next morning I carried on with my journey. Such is this country, too many things and too little time.
I love history and as I left Vijaynagar the next day, a curious thought stayed with me. In the period before Mughal Empire dominated India i.e. late 13th to early 16th century, India had various kingdoms, all had great capitals. 5 were considered the grandest; Delhi in north, Vijaynagar in south, Gaur in east, Ahmedabad in west, and Mandu in centre. Three of these were destroyed; Delhi and Ahmedabad survived and have retained their importance even today. Delhi has a few monuments to remember the era by, too few to know or feel it. Ahmedabad has lesser still. Most Amdavaadis today don’t even know of its glorious past. It is strange but the destruction of the other three great cities actually saved its history.
The past couple of weeks have been interesting. Too many dynasties and royal complexes though. So I decided to head for Om Beach, Gokarna. The beach is quiet, clean and empty. Plan a two day getaway if you are close by. The rhythmic waves, a calm breeze and some lovely fried fish are the only things that will await you here.