Our initial plan was to see Aihole and Pattadakal today. Walking around Aihole itself drained us completely. Added to it was the ever increasing crowds in the monuments. So decided to visit Pattadakal early tomorrow morning.
December is the peak season in Badami. Badami is a small town and there are only a handful of hotels. All hotels were full till the New Year. We had to book in two different hotels to stay two days. So after visiting Aihole, we came back to the second hotel and checked in, getting some much needed rest.
We decided to visit the Northern Fort and Upper Shivalaya atop the hill in the afternoon. Started at 4.00 PM and went to the Museum. The steps to the hill are to the side of the museum. A word about access to the museum. It is highly advisable not to take your car through the narrow lanes leading to the museum. Taking an Auto Rickshaw is a better decision. There are just too many pigs roaming around the small lanes. Possibly due to the open drainage system in the town.
The climb up the hill is slightly hard. Took us about 30 minutes. There are stone steps that lead you up. On both sides the boulders present arresting views. There are two Shiva temples at the hills, the lower Shivalaya and the upper Shivalaya. The upper temple is thought to be from 5th century CE, overlooking the town of Badami. These are not active temples now.
 |
| Imposing boulders along the path |
 |
| Great place for photo shoot |
 |
| Lower Shivalaya |
As you go up, the views keep getting better and better. There are three granaries that are latter day additions when the hill was used as a fort. Ruins of fortifications can be found just below the Upper Shivalaya temple. There is a circular bastion which we could not enter as it was guarded by an aggressive monkey. Yes, there are many monkeys in the hill and you have to be extremely careful carrying water bottle or food stuff.
 |
| Granaries |
 |
| Circular bastion, just below the Upper Shivalaya |
 |
| View of the Badami Hills and Agasthya Lake from the top |
Atop the hill there was a lonely guard sitting near the temple. Next to him was a watering hole in the rocks where monkeys were frolicking around. They seem to ignore the guard and he was ignoring them too. Must be a lonely vigil at the top, but with a great view.
 |
| Monkeys at the watering hole, A lonely guard with his back to them |
 |
| Old Temple, New Goddess |
On the way down I decided to go to the two watch towers in the hills. For this one has to climb up a narrow cleft in the rocks, situated just below the lower Shivalaya. There are steps, but one has to contort a little bit to get through it. She wasn't interested, so I went alone. The view of the lake and the town from this vantage point was marvelous. As I was about to go into the watch tower, I heard her shriek down below followed by a noisy thud.
 |
| Two watch towers midway |
Fearing that she fell down the steps, I rushed back. She was standing there shaken. Her water bottle was lying down a few steps below. An aggressive monkey had charged at her water bottle, taking her by surprise. She had thrown away the bottle in fear. As we were looking, the monkey came back, took the water bottle, pierced it with its teeth, drank the water, threw the bottle back and walked away nonchalantly.
Total distance traveled till date : 950 km
No comments:
Post a Comment