QUIT 3 - Day 2.

Started at 7.30 AM from Davanagere. It was a cold and cloudy morning. People were just getting out for their morning walk. No shops were open yet. So decided to have breakfast on the way.


Highway expansion work is going on in NH 48. There were traffic diversions every 2 km literally. You will drive on good roads for 2km, then take a diversion to the service road for 2km. Endless repeats. Got a bit tiring. My Honda City kept scraping the speed breakers that had popped up in service roads. Catching a view of majestic Thungabadra river was the only consolation in the morning dive.


Breakfast was at a hotel just next to a toll plaza. New Dilli Darbar or something like that. Breakfast consisted of dried idlis, Masala Dosai (which was a sack compared to the fine mesh we are used to at home) and Vadai (too crispy).

It was 11 by the time we reached Hubbali.  Google maps decided to play with us and made us go in circles in Hubbai for a few minutes. But once we reached the highway it was all smooth. The road from Hubbali to Badami (via Navalgundu) is well paved and was a pleasure to drive. But no great places to stop for lunch. Decided to have lunch at the hotel in Badami where we were staying.

One of the main reasons why Badami is visited by relatively few people is because it is in the middle of no where. We ourselves had been planning to visit Badami for the last 5 years. During our Hampi trip, during our Maharashtra - Gujarat Trip. It always came down to "Too far away from the main route. We will see it some other time". 

So it is all the more remarkable that Narasimhavarma Pallavan I of 7th century came all the way here from Kancheepuram to sack this city. For Tamils, that history is almost a folklore. Chalukya King Pulikesi laid siege to Kancheepuram and had to be paid off by Mahendravarma Pallavan. In retaliation his son Narasimhavarma Pallavan planned for 12 years and attacked Badami in 642 AD and laid it to waste. This history forms the backdrop of the historical romance novel "Sivakamiyin Sabatham" (Sivakami's Vow) by Kalki. He alludes to the cave temples and paintings of Badami in that novel.

The first look of Badami is impressive. As you reach to the top of the road, suddenly the massive mountains and a town nestled in its foothills come to view. As you go down the road it keeps getting better. 

We reached out hotel, had lunch and set out to visit the caves. Our hotel was about 2 km from the caves. Following internet advice, we left the car at the hotel and took an auto. It was a wise decision. Being a Sunday it was crowded with school children who kept coming in waves of school buses and vans. The parking space was pretty crowded.

We had read so much about the Badami caves that we went in expecting to be underwhelmed. On the contrary, no words can depict the majesty of the rock cut cave temples and the mountains themselves. It is a sight to behold. There are 4 levels of caves carved into the mountain. The first one is called the Shiva Caves, with a temple for Shiva carved into the rock. The second and third temples are dedicated to Vishnu. The fourth and top most one is a Jain temple with statues of Thirthankaras carved in stone. You have to climb a bit to go up to the caves, not very difficult but a bit tiring.

Dancing Siva (?)

Roof Art, Endless Swastik

Stone Pillar

Stone Pillar

Romantic pose

Romatic Pose

Agasthya Lake

Boothnath temple 

Sunset over the lake

Another view of the lake

Agasthya Lake bounded on one side by the Cave temples and the other side by the fort is a beauty beyond words. Probably because we saw it in full brim. We kept clicking photos of the temples and the lake knowing fully well that none of the pictures can capture its grandeur.

Then we walked down and went to the Museum on the other side of the lake. It is a small museum, with sculptures found during excavation of Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole. Half the displays did not have any information about them. Still it is worth visiting. The arresting statue of Lajja Gauri is the main piece of the museum. For those who have not heard about fertility goddess in tribal cultures, this statue will come as a shock.

As the museum closed by 5 we went to the Boothnath temple planning to catch the sunset from that side. From whatever little I know, it looked like that Boothnath temples are latter day additions. Small temples on the lake front, pleasing to the eye. To sit there and watch the sunset over the lake was so blissful.


Distance traveled today : 260km
Total distance : 880 km