Badami

By Ms. Prarthana Pralhad Kulkarni

Introduction 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 rock cut and other structural temples. It is located in a ravine at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake.

Mythology

The Puranic story says the wicked asura Vatapi was killed by sage Agastya (as per Agastya-Vatapi story), the area in which the incident happened so named as Vatapi. At Aihole there was a merchant guild known as Ayyavole Ainuravaru lived in the area have reformed. The first Chalukya king was Jayasimha (a feudatory of the Kadamba's), in 500 AD he established the Chalukya kingdom. His grandson Pulakeshi I built a fort at Vatapi

History
Pulakeshi Is son Kirtivarma I strengthened the Vatapi and he had three sons Pulakeshi II, Vishnuvardhana and Buddhavarasa, when he died they were minors, so Kirtivarma Is brother Mangalesha ruled, he tried to establish his self, but was killed by Pulakeshi II who ruled between 610 A.D to 642 A.D.[4] Vatapi was the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka,Maharastra,Few parts of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh between the 6th and 8th centuries. It was founded in 540 AD by Pulakeshi I (535-566 AD), an early ruler of the Chalukyas. His sons Kirtivarma I (567598 AD) and his brother Mangalesha (598-610 AD) constructed the cave temples. The greatest among them was Pulakeshi II (610-642 AD) who defeated many kings including pallavas of Kanchipuram.

Contd..
The rock-cut Badami Cave Temples were sculpted mostly between the 6th and 8th centuries. The four cave temples represent the secular nature of the rulers then, with tolerance and a religious following that inclines towards Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. cave 1 is devoted to Shiva, and Caves 2 and 3 are dedicated to Vishnu, whereas cave 4 displays reliefs of Jain Tirthankaras. Deep caverns with carved images of the various incarnations of Hindu gods are strewn across the area, under boulders and in the red sandstone. From an architectural and archaeological perspective, they provide critical evidence of the early styles and stages of the southern Indian architecture.

Placves I visited: Badami Caves front View

Places I visited: Bhootnath temple

Places I visited: Mallikarjun Temple

Places I visited: Vishnu image cave III

Places I visited ; North cave

Places I visited: Climbing to second cave

Places I visited: North Tower

Places I visited: Nataraj