The culture and heritage of Badami
There are many sites in Karnataka that gives us a glimpse of the richness and grandeur of the ancient culture and heritage of this region. Many of these have entered the World Heritage list and some are in the process of being listed. It is a long drive to Badami from Bangalore and it would be extremely helpful to access the services of reputed tour operators like Southern Odyssey who have the experience and expertise to offer you a great service. An overnight’s drive from Bangaluru will take you to Badami.
Badami was once the capital city of the Kings of the Chalukya dynasty. It is generally accepted that Badami is the epitome of the highly developed art and architecture of the people of this region in ancient times. Here you will witness beautifully carved cave temples, an artificial lake, museums and more. Built around the 6th and 7th century AD., is a rock-cut cut into the cliff face of red sandstone hill.
The village of Badami is located in the midst of red sandstone hills in North Karnataka where the ravines begin.
You can start off the exploration from caves, move on to temples and forts and later check out monuments in ruins that still display a life of grandeur from the past. You have one natural cave and four man-made cave-temples to explore along the 400 meter climb up the rocks flanking Badami. The grandest cave temple is dedicated to Lord Maha Vishnu, one of the presiding deities of the Hindu Trinity.
The cave temple dedicated to Maha Vishnu is the fourth one from the starting point. You can witness huge halls adorned with intricately carved pillars of rock which were carved out from the cave itself. The walls are covered with beautiful and visually stunning images of Lord Maha Vishnu. The other caves temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva and there are Jain Temples here too.
It is believed that these rock cave temples were built as retreats for monks to enable them to meditate in peace in the respective temples dedicated to the deity of their choice.
