[smsrini]

Our next destination is circa 500AD, so hold onto your horses, and whooooooooooosh, you're in Aihole.

For the history buffs, Aihole, was supposedly the earliest capital of the Chalukyas, where they established a school for temple architecture. Therefore all the structures in Aihole look very experimental in nature. Rough cuts, figurines that lack fineese. A majority of these structures were destroyed as they were inhabited by people till the early 19th century.

The cave temple at Aihole.


The Durga Temple, does not have a durga idol but gets its name from the family that stayed/owned it. The sanctum of this temple is semicircular in shape.



Some of the early temples.


The royal emblem


A ladder in 'Lad Khan' temple in Aihole.


The outside of this temple has a unique roof that looks like its made of logs but all carved from stone. This temple shows some influence of the western culture in the carving, implying some amalgamation of cultures and tolerance to different cultures.


The intricate grilles in this temple.



Pattadkal is more recent in times, and gets its name from 'Pattabhishekam' or coronation. The place was chosen for the kings coronation because the river Malprabha which flows here runs from 'SOUTH to NORTH' whereas all other rivers in India run North to South.

Patadkal has temples from as early as 700AD. A few temples here show a very rich influence of the Orissa temple architecture. The earliest two temples built by two queens of Vikramaditya II, show a south Indian architecture and design whereas the others depict the Orissa style.

A panaroma of the Pattadkal site with the trio who travelled back in time


Orissa style of architecture.




SunGod on the ceiling of the Lokamahadevi temple.










Badami is the most recent around 500AD. The badami caves are soft sandstone and you can see the natural colors of sandstone in some of the sculptures. The badami caves depict the Shaiva ( Shiva ), Vaishnava ( Vishnu ) and Buddha sculptures. The caves were carved from single rock, piece by piece, including some very intriguing ceilings and pillars with hanging sculptures. Talk about patience they had !!!

Chalukyan sculpture is recognized by the sculptures standing out as opposed to carved 'into' the stone.

You will see common motifs in all three places - jewellery, flowers on pillars, the natarja avatar of shiva, the 'Ardhanaarishwara' ( half man/woman depicting equality of sexes ), Half Vishnu Half Shiva statues, the Dasa-avatars - Varaha, Vamana, Krishna.

Now for those less inclined to history, Badami caves are popular for 2 reasons - One, very agressive monkeys so dont engage in any monkey business here, and Two its link to Bollywood, with some sequences from the film GURU, 'the ek lo ek muft' song, where ABJr runs up some steps, and the other 'Dum Dara something' featuring the ABJr couple, near the lake.

these two pictures of Nataraja have 18 hands and can depict about hmmm.... 52 dance mudras, after which I lost count :-(

[smsrini]

I'll let the pictures do the talking now...

Cinemascope wide screen





The 'Guru' shot location


Rock Face showing the textures.



Intricate carving on pillars.


Shiva+Vishnu = Venkateshwara!




Notice the square and circular pillars and the intricate hanging 'Drapes' from the ceiling.


Varaha avatar - more intricate than in Aihole


Vishnu seated on Sesha. Normally you will see a reclined pose on Sesha.


A natural cave formation. There are some inscription on its walls.


At the end of the 4 days, you feel overwhelmed at the cultural diversity and rich heritage that India has. Hampi, Pattadkal and Aihole are World Heritage Sites, protected and maintained under a UNESCO grant. A wealth of information is available on the net on these sites and I'm sure the other travellers have provided much more information.

We ended our journey in a state of awe, of the amazing skill, and cultural diversity that existed in those early times, and their influence that shaped the future of our Incredible India!

The end.

[smsrini]

One correction: Badami dates further back in time, than Pattadkal.

[smsrini]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Good pics...how much time one will take for finishing the whole tour of Hampi?

As I said earlier, depends on the pace at which you want to see it, and the level of detail you want.

A quick trip is a 3day/2night trip that covers Hampi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadkal.

We took 3nights/4Days to complete the tour. first 2 days we took a guide and went around Hampi. The 3rd day we did some of the museums, and other attractions on our own. 4th day for Badami, Aihole, Pattadkal.

[snaronikar]

Thanks for info and good narration and pics which went back into the history of this state.

[Samurai]

Excellent travelogue smsrini, you have provided loads of info on the history of each building. Knowing the histroy brings these places back to life.

Originally Posted by smsrini

Next stop is the Royal Quarters, starting with the 'Mahanavami Dibba', a grand stage from where the royal family viewed the Dusshera celebrations and gave an audience to the public. This is a huge monolithic structure, with intricate carvings on its walls, and a panaromic view of the royal quarters.

Are you sure it is a monolithic structure, I can see separate stones.

[smsrini]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Excellent travelogue smsrini, you have provided loads of info on the history of each building. Knowing the histroy brings these places back to life.

Are you sure it is a monolithic structure, I can see separate stones.

Coming from the master himself, that one big compliment. Thankyou.

You're right its not monolithic.. I was lost for words to describe it.

thanks
Srini

[smsrini]

The gateway to the Hemakut temple complex ontop of a hill.


These two pictures show a distinctly different architectural style of the Hemakut temples.





The two photos below are of the 'courtesan's street' adjoining the Achyutaraya temple. Probabaly the most well preserved marketplaces in Hampi. the Hampi bazaar's been converted into houses and thereby has lost most of its originality.





Another well built, less frequented temple is the Pattabhirama temple. It looks incomplete, but the main Gopuram is structurally intact.



Enroute to the Pattabhirama temple is the ASI museum. Definitely worth a visit.

Trip Stats:

Total trip distance: 2000kms. (Blr-Hampi-Badami-Aihole-Patadkal-Hampi-Hyderabad-Nalgonda-Hyd-Blr )

FE: 11.4kpl with Turbojet.

[Lukeskywalker]

Excellent travelogue smsrini, you have provided loads of info on the history of each building. Knowing the histroy brings these places back to life.

+ 1 to that!!

Great narration coupled with good snaps, a wealth of info for ppl like me who are planning to do this trip, hope to do it soon.
Keep tripping friend.
Regards,
Hari.

[nnandi]

Originally Posted by theMAG

4. Route query:
Return route:

Option 1: Retrace the above route back. To do this, a shorter way out of Badami to NH13 is to continue via Banshankari till a place called Belur, and take a left there towards Gajendragarh. The Belur-Ganjendragarh route is extremely below par and a pucca village road, until you hit the beautiful SH left to Gajendragarh. From there its a straight blast to Kushtagi and the NH13

Option 2: Come via Hubli/Haveri back to Chitradurga.

Hi "theMAG",

sorry to ping you again, I need a little more details of the return route from Badami to Bangalore for both the options above. Probably you won't have too much time to write them down in detail, even the main points would be just fine for me. (For ex

For option 1: Badami--> ? -->Banshankari--> Belur--> (left) Gajendragarh --> SH (?) --> Kushtagi--> NH13--> ? --> Chitradurga.

For option 2: Badami --> ? --> ? --> Hubli--> Chitradurga

Also, which of the above option is better to touch NH13/Chitradurga?

Thanks in advance.
-Nandi