Badami cave temples

About

Set into the soft red sandstone cliffs above an ancient man-made lake at Badami, in the Bagalkot district of northern Karnataka, these rock-cut temples are among the foundational monuments of Indian temple architecture. They were carved out of the living rock from the late sixth century onward, when the surrounding town — then known as Vātāpi — served as the capital of the Early Chalukya dynasty.

Four principal caves face south-east into the escarpment. Cave 1 is largely dedicated to Śiva and is celebrated for a sweeping relief of Naṭarāja, the cosmic dancer. Cave 2 is mainly Vaiṣṇavite, with imagery of Harihara, Ardhanārī, Mahiṣamardinī, Gaṇeśa and Skanda, along with a striking depiction of Vishnu as Trivikrama. Cave 3, the largest and most ornate, is again devoted to Vishnu — showing him as Ananta seated on the coiled serpent, Varāha with Bhūdevī, Narasimha, Trivikrama, and the Virāṭ form. Cave 4 is given over to revered figures of Jainism, while a further cave by the lake is thought to be Buddhist, and another nearby gallery known as Arali Tīrtha holds around twenty-seven additional carvings.

Together with the temples at neighbouring Aihole and Pattadakal, the Badami caves helped turn the Malaprabha River valley into a cradle of South Indian temple architecture whose influence reached far beyond the Deccan.

History

The Badami cave temples were carved into the cliffs of Vātāpi, the Early Chalukya capital, beginning in the late sixth century and continuing into the seventh and eighth. They are numbered in the order of their creation and stand as defining examples of Early Chalukya rock-cut work, executed during the reigns of rulers such as Pulakeśin I and his successors. The town's name, which appears in older texts as Vātāpi, Vātāpipura, Vātāpinagari and Agastya Tīrtha, recalls its place in the legend of the sage Agastya. Today the caves are about 14 miles from the UNESCO-listed temples of Pattadakal and 22 miles from the wider monument cluster at Aihole.

Significance

The Badami caves are among the earliest surviving Hindu temples in the Deccan and a key witness to the formation of Indian temple traditions. Their inclusive sweep — Hindu, Jain, and (most likely) Buddhist sanctuaries within a single sandstone hillside — also speaks of the religious plurality the Chalukya rulers chose to patronise.