Waking up to the sound of train at 4 am, I learnt that I still had 2.30 hrs to reach this house of 10 beautiful temples on the banks of river Malaprabha in Bagalkot district of Karnataka. Pattadakal, also called as Raktapura is a UNESCO World Heritage site whose history goes back to 7^th and 8^th century. After witnessing the soothing morning of this town, I spoke to a local taxi to tour me around who agreed upon charging me 900₹. The second capital of Chalukyan Dynasty after Badami, Pattadakal has monuments with a unique combination of south and north Indian style of architecture. 9 of the 10 temples here are dedicated to lord Shiva whereas the other belongs to Jainism which is believed to be constructed far later after the fall of Chalukyans.

Virupaksha temple is the most attractive of all, not only for its abundant size and  carvings, but for the very reason of its name and existence. It was also called the Lokeshwara, named after the queen Lokamahadevi who built this temple in the glory of her husband’s victory. Admiring the intricacy of the carvings, I started shooting them with my tripod. Soon, I learnt that this place is preserved and managed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and usage of tripod is prohibited. Continuing the shoot with my camera alone, I entered the temple and was greeted by the sight of pooja being performed on the Nandi shrine. The walls and pillars inside are embedded with the carvings of a variety of deities and few scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana and other ancient Hindu fables and epics with the names of the artists being mentioned beneath them. Sangameshwara temple, Mallikarjuna temple, Papanatha temple, Galaganatha temple, Kadasiddeshwar temple are few others among the Hindu temples here.

Housing the statue of Jina, the Jain Narayana temple which was built in 9^th century during the rule of Rashtrakutas also follows the basic architectural pattern of other temples in the complex. After this eye catching view I moved out and noticed the lawn around. Blissful! Is what I felt when my feet touched the well maintained green lawn. It invited me to rest there for a while before I headed out to grab some food. Jowar (maize) roti (bread) is the typical food of North Karnataka which I savoured with the authentic styled brinjal curry served by a native lady right outside this place. The next destination on my journey was around 9 kms from Pattadakal and it looked likes ages for me to reach the place. This was in account of the construction work going on the roads. The Cradle of Indian architecture, Aihole, a small village is called so because it has around 125 stone temples. It has Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples, the oldest of it dating back to 4th century. Also called as ‘Ayyavole’ has an interesting mythological story behind it. It is said that Parashurama (Lord Vishnu’s incarnation) washed his axe when he found this lake, exclaiming ‘ayyo hole’ (‘O river’ in kannada) to wash his sins after killing the Kshatriyas.

As I started discovering this city, I first visited the famous Durga temple. This temple gets its name not because of the Deity Durga as it is mostly guessed to be. Rather because it’s near a Durg (fortress). Dedicated to lord Vishnu, this temple was built around 7-8^th century and has a unique semi-circular pattern formed by beautifully carved pillared corridors. It further has carvings of different avatars of Hindu gods and scenes of daily life. Many temples of this village are probably an experimental models which were further adopted to build bigger temples in other parts of the state. So, including the Durga temple there are only a few like LadhKhan temple, suryanarayana temple, Meguti temple, Gowda temple which stand out as prominent ones. Located a little away from these complexes is the Ravana Phadi cave which is another tourist attraction. This cave has sculptures of lord Shiva as Nataraj (the dancer), as Ardhanarishvara (half man and half woman) with Parvati and many others depicting the ancient tales of Hinduism. Out of all, the Ardhanarishwar which portrays the timeless serene balance between the masculine and feminine energies of the universe impressed me!

I next reached this monument which is around 35 kms from Aihole, where drizzles of rain invited me. I bought the entrance tickets and witnessed the spectacular view of the rock cut temples as the rain settled down. Badami caves, also called as Vatapi was the capital of Chalukyan dynasty in 6^th century established by Pulakesi I. Surrounded by the lake Agastya, this monument is a hub of 3 Hindu and 1 Jain caves interconnected by a series of stairs. These caves are made of sandstones and are a unique epitome of Chalukyan architecture with a basis of both South and North Indian architectural styles. Climbing up the first 40 steps I reached the first cave which is dedicated to lord Shiva. This is the oldest cave built in 578 A.D. featuring Lord Shiva in the form of famous Tandava (dancing Shiva). It contains a hall and numerous pillars, the ceilings and walls of which have carvings of couples. It is accompanied with other shrines of Lord Nandi, Ganesha and Durga. I next hiked to Cave 2 which is around 64 steps above and east to Cave 1. This is relatively a smaller cave depicting Lord Vishnu as Trivikrama avatar.

The entrance of this cave has carvings of guardians gracefully holding flowers. It has numerous carvings on its walls and ceiling depicting different avatars of Hindu Gods. Climbing up around 60 steps from here leaves you at the largest and the most famous caves of all, Cave 3, also dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It has a variety of lord Vishnu’s incarnations like Vasudeva, Varaha, Trivikrama and Narasimha. Though it is themed on Vaishnavism, it also has a statue of Harihara which is half Shiva and half Vishnu giving a touch of Shaivism. Situated a little below and next to Cave 3 is Cave 4 dedicated to Lord Mahavira, the 24^th tirthankara of Jains. This is the smallest cave amongst the 4, constructed in 7^th century. Mahavira in seated pose on a lion throne and Gomateshwara in standing pose with creepers around his legs glorifies this cave. Resembling the Ellora cave Jain temples of Maharashtra, it has carvings of all the other tirthankaras on its walls and pillars. In addition to these caves, Badami also has other smaller caves and shrine carvings around the lake. I finished this journey by visiting the Badami Archaeological Museum which was also worth seeing. ‘Badami’ is called so as it means almond in kannada because of its rock colour resemblance to almond. Admiring the sandstone architecture with a small hike brands the beauty of this heritage site!

Showcasing the immense talents of Chalukyan artists on these monuments, Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami are few of the world known UNESCO Heritage centres. These temples have been an inspiration for a wide range temple in South India till date. Being a proud resident of this state, I feel the more you admire, the more you fall in love with these marvels!!