It was a long metro ride from Noida city center to Rohini, I had a busy day, and at that time I realised…I need a break. The next thing I did was, began reading some travel articles that’s how I came across the Chalukyas of Vatapi (or Badami).
The more I read about it, the more I got obsessed with this place. I was feeling as if it was reaching out to me and telling me to take this journey of a lifetime. Almost on a whim, I decided to take this trip to Badami town in Karnataka. I wanted to see Agasthya Lake and Badami Fort, just wanted to experience what I have been reading about.
After digging a little bit deeper into the place, it turned out that Badami with Pattadakal and Aihole made for a perfect offbeat heritage destination.
Later, I kept thinking about Badami town, but I needed a companion, so I dialed up a friend. Like a good salesman, I sold him the idea of going to Badami and he immediately came on board. Two weeks later, we had finally come to this quaint little town.
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The bus ride to Badami
Badami is around 450 km far from Bengaluru and the nearest airport is Belgaum which is about at a distance of 190 km, while the nearest railway station is Hubli around 100 km from the town.
We decided to take an overnight bus to reach our destination. After reaching there in the morning, we started looking for hotels and homestays. Luckily, Badami has a lot of such places listed on famous hotel booking sites so we got a nice place within a couple of minutes.
The town has a lot of attractions for those who are looking for an offbeat heritage experience. These include :
- Badami Fort
- Cave temples of Badami
- Bhootanatha Temple
- Agasthya Lake
- Malagati Shivalaya Temple and sunset point
- Cliff sunset point
- An offbeat exploration of Badami town
- Aihole and Pattadakal
Exploring Badami Fort and Cave temples:
After relaxing for some time at the hotel, we began our journey on foot to explore Badami. However, not familiar with the streets, we asked for directions to Badami Fort but lost our way. But that reminded me of the poem by Robert Frost, ‘The road not taken’ as we stumbled upon a magnificent view of the hills.
We eventually did find our way to Badami Fort, the entrance to the fort itself was breathtaking. Badami Fort, built by King Pulakeshin, is strategically situated atop a hill providing protection from three sides by high cliffs. The remains of the temples inside the fort are scattered across the campus. From the fort’s watchtower, one finds a beautiful birdseye view of Badami.
Malagati Shivalaya temple
The Malagati Shivalaya temple is located next to the fort and has a separate entrance. It is a beautiful rock-cut temple that showcases the elegance of Chalukya architecture and it has a unique iconography of Lord Shiva and other gods. Sitting atop a large rock, it houses a beautiful garden and the view during sunset looks majestic from there.
Exploring the fort took us a little over three hours. Right next to the fort, there is a lake called Agasthya, named after Maharshi Agasthya who killed asura Vatapi. It is a man-made lake surrounded by the fort, the cave temples, and Bhootanatha Temple. Since we went in the pre-monsoon months, the lake was dry and we could walk straight to the cave temples.
There are four Hindu and Jain cave temples in Badami. The first cave is dedicated to Lord Shiva and shows him in his Nataraja form. One can also find sculptures of Goddess Durga and Ardhanarishwara.
The second and third caves are dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The second cave features the Tri-Vikram and Varaha forms of Lord Vishnu. On the other hand, the third cave is the largest among them all. This is where one can find the famous statue of Lord Vishnu seated on Lord Shesha-nag.
The cave possibly used to have murals that have disappeared over time and now, only traces of colours are visible. There are other sculptures of Brahma, Indra, and even Ganas in these caves. We were in awe of these sculptures and the puranic stories they represented.
We then moved to the last cave. The temple is dedicated to Jain Tirthankaras. This cave, as we came to know, was a later addition. It had beautiful motifs. I was in awe of Lord Parshvanatha’s sculpture. The cave also has sculptures of Yakshas and Yakshinis.
Bhootanatha Temple and the mysterious cave
The next day, we decided to visit the Bhootanatha cave temple. It has a unique architecture of an early Dravidian temple which houses an open mandapa. Dedicated to Lord Bhootanatha, the temple group is made up of sandstone overlooking the Agasthya Lake and right next to it, there was a short flight of stairs that led us to a small shrine cave.
The cave features all ten avatars of Lord Vishnu. The chief sculpture is of Lord Vishnu in Anantashayana form, restarting the cosmic cycle. Badami was a beautiful experience and little did we know that we were in for a bit of adventure.
Later, we saw a small cave-like structure next to the Bhootanatha Temple that required one to climb the slope of a cliff. The route had a lot of stones and wild bushes and probably that’s why a lot of people avoid taking this route.
By the time we reach there, it was dark, and not many people were around. We didn’t know that this cave is one of the lesser-known and recently discovered caves. From the cave, we could see the whole of Agasthya Lake, Badami Fort, and the cave temples.
As we got a little tired, we decided to rest there for some time and wait for the sun to go down. We both wanted to preserve what we were seeing and I am so glad that we decided to visit this beautiful place. At the sundowner, an orangish hue painted the sky, and this beautiful sunset that will forever be embedded in our memories.
