Monument Name Badami Caves Location Badami State Karnataka Timings Coordinates 15.9151  75.6767 Wikipedia Links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badami_Cave_Temples Entrance Fee Other Details Other Langauge Names Hindi: बादामी गुफाएं Kannada: ಬಾದಾಮಿ ಕಾವೆಸ್

More images...

Located on a hilly slope atop a flight of about 200 steps, the Badami cave temple complex comprises four ancient rock-cut caves. Of the four temples, three are Brahmanical temples while the fourth one is a Jain cave.

Cave 1

The earliest of the Badami caves, the first cave was probably carved way back in 578 AD. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, this cave houses a magnificent sculpture of the 18-armed Lord Nataraja (Dancing Shiva), resplendent in 81 different Mudras or hand movements. One also comes across sculptures of the deities of Harihara (half-Vishnu, half-Siva), their consorts Lakshmi and Parvati and, and Ardhanarishwar. The square shaped sanctum hollowed in the control back wall enshrines the Shiva-linga.

Cave 2

The presiding deity of the second cave temple of Badami is Lord Vishnu. The Lord is depicted in his various incarnations, prominent among which are the incarnations of Varaha (boar) and Vamana (dwarf). The ceiling is endowed with carvings of Vishnu in eternal sleep, Shiva, Brahma and the 8 Dikpals, the presiding deities of the 8 directions.

Cave 3

The grandest among the Badami caves, the third cave is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. This 70 feet wide cave boasts of a profusion of sculptures of Vishnu in different avatars, Narasimha (Vishnu as Man-Lion), Varaha, Harihara (Shiva Vishnu) and as Trivikrama. The elegantly decorated cave embodies the sculptural dexterity of ancient craftsmen.

Cave 4

The solitary Jain cave among the lot, the construction of this cave achieved completion 100 years after that of the other three caves. The cave enshrines a number of statues of the Jain Tirthankaras in different postures. While Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, is depicted in a sitting posture, Tirthankara Parshwanatha is carved with a serpent at his feet.

This 18th century Marathan temple, located near Badami, is the site of an annual cart festival. The view looks west to the temple, across a large tank. A wind tower is visible to the left.

Badami was the headquarters of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka in the 6th - 8th centuries. The Pallavas captured Badami in 654, but were expelled by Vikramaditya I (655-680). The Early Chalukyas are often called the Early Western Chalukyas to distinguish them from the Early Eastern Chalukyas, a collateral branch in the Eastern Deccan established by Vishnuvardhana in 624.

Early Chalukya sculpture tends to be "classical" (a term now out of fashion, however) in its realism, fullness of modeling, and chasteness of ornamentation; in these respects it has more in common with its predecessors (the Guptas) than with its contemporaries (the Pallavas) and successors. Architecturally, both northern and southern features can be seen, sometimes on the same temple. Huntington, p.337, identifies a set of common features which include: mortarless assembly; temple dimensions that are relatively low, long, and narrow; the use of flat roofs over many-columned halls; richly-carved ceiling panels; and sculptural combinations that consist of just a few major images rather than many smaller ones.

After defeat and absorption by the Rashtrakutas in the middle of the 8th century, Badami remained under Rashtrakutan rule until 973, when it passed under the rule of the Late Chalukyas of Kalyani, a dynasty which claimed descent from the Early Chalukyas of Badami. Late Chalukyan rule lasted until 1189, at which time Badami passed into the control of the Hoysalas.