Badami, Aihole and Pattadkal - a Blast to the Past

The Chalukyans were a very important dynasty that ruled from 5'th - 8'th century A.D .  While they ruled a good part of central-south India, the relics of that culture are concentrated in three important towns - Badami, Aihole and Pattadkal . Chalukyan period dates much back compared to the other famous temple places in karnataka - such as the Belur/Halebid or Hampi . It was always on the back of my mind that I had never visited such important places of historical interest while being in close proximity to them and decided that i would do it this time around.

we decided almost at the last moment to hire a Toyota Innova cab , especially given my concerns of the quality of roads which my Honda can't deal with. This was to be a father and son trip only - due to obvious constraints. Since we departed from Dharwad , the Planned route to Badami : SH-28 to Hebsur which then joins the Hubli-Bijapur-Gulbarga highway NH-218 , then Navalgund , Nargund , a right after Nargund on SH-134 also called the Badami Road.

The view of SH-28 from the hired Innova cab - the early morning sun rays gleaming through the trees . The state highways - provided the roads are good make for a very refreshing drive.

The North Karnataka belt  has very characteristic Black soil .

On the Badami Road , we stopped to let Nachiket touch the cotton plant.

The Pearl Millet is grown  and consumed extensively in North Karnataka - called Sajje/Sajji in Kannada and Bajra/Bajri in rest of India . I don't actually recall having noticed this before , so a welcome change to see a different kind of grain .

Our cab driver suggested that we directly go to Pattadkal first. A while after Badami the road reaches a junction, keep to the right to go to Pattadkal . The left leads to Guledgud and the sign post isn't very clear , so exercise caution here . Pattakdkal is another 22 kms from Badami.

Pattadkal - the name means "Coronation stone" . There's just one big area having many many temples with a well maintained garden ,  on the bank of river Mallaprabha . Pattadkal was the sacred place and was used for the coronation of many Chalukyan kings. 

The temples at Pattadkal are built by Chalukyans of the latter period - from 7'th-8'th century AD. Shaivism was dominant after Vikramaditya-I who turned Shaivite from being a Vaishnaivite . All the following kings were Shaivites too - Hence, every temple here is dedicated to Lord Shiva going by various names : Galganatha , Virupaksha , Mallikarjuna etc 

Among the 3 sites , Pattadkal is the only one that's declared a world heritage site . The temples built here are in both the North-Indian RekhaNagar style ( seen as in temples of Puri , Jagannath , Konark ) and South-Indian Dravid-Vimana style ( seen in Tamil Nadu )  . Again , we see temples in both Sandara and Niradhara forms differentiated by whether or not we have a Pradakshina pathway surrounding the Garbha-Griha.

The other interesting aspect of temples are the symmetrical art-forms used for the windows and the concept of interlocking stones used to build these structures standing tall even today. The guide also explained the intricacies of the Platform on which the Lingam is built upon having square , hexagonal and circular forms within !

Only the Virupaksha temple is Pooja-worthy and we are required to remove the footwear before entering this temple . The temple has a variety of sculptures depicting many interesting episodes from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata , as well as popular Janapada stories . It was interesting to get a peek into what aspects of Hindu beliefs and lifestyle was in vogue during those periods.

The Shiva Linga in the Virupaksha form  is all resplendent in surrounding darkness : 

The Large Nandi opposite to the Virupaksha : 

 

Father and Son pose :

The Malaprabha River wasn't full given the low Monsoon this time around : 

 

From here, after sampling the taste of good sliced guava fruits , we set out to Aihole which is another 13 kms from Pattadkal. 

Aihole has actually got the biggest dispersion of Chalukyan temples - some 120 odd in total . The whole town is interspersed with temples - we found the town dirty and could be maintained much better to attract more tourists . 

Aihole in fact has the most varied and interesting forms of temples and has been called one of the cradles of Indian temple architecture. Here, most temples were actually being used as residences when the archaelogical society started to preserve them as monuments - hence many temples go by names of people who resided there - such as Lad Khan temple etc.

  The RavanaPhadi cave temple below is astounding and goes back to 6'th century AD.

There is one major temple complex area in the centre of Aihole maintained by the ASI and has similar temple  complex surrounded by well maintained gardens.

The famous Durga Gudi - also called "Parliament temple"' is the important attraction here. The locals claim that the Indian Parliament is modelled after this ! The temple actually resembles a Buddha Chaitya in construction .

A very small water tank with steps leading inside : 

The other temples as glanced from the Durga Gudi :

Exquisite pillar craftsmanship :

Outside the complex , i had a chance to taste a long tradition still available in parts of North karnataka : Curds prepared in small pots at home , brought/sold  with a spoon of sugar - a real healthy treat in the hot regions . I hope this stays in days to come ...

After this, we drove back to Badami. On the route back we pass the MahaKoota and the Banashankari - i decided to give both places a miss this time around.

Just on the outskirts of Badami,  we stopped at the Badami Court Hotel -  we ended up having a good Lunch buffet in an AC restuarant at  350/- per head . 

we decided to visit the main attraction in Badami - the stupendous rock cut cave temples , also called "Menada Basadi" in local lingo. There are four sets of cave temples , each accessed by climbing staircases carved out  in the rocky hill .

The first temple is a Shiva temple :

The wall of the first cave temple has a depiction of Shiva as NataRaja - Dancing with 18 hands. Other sculptures depicting Ardha-Narishwara , HariHara and GajaVrishabha also are depicted.

The second temple is also a shiva temple : 

I found the scuplture reproducing the wheel with Fishes (aimed at by Arjuna) remarkable  :

Varaha(Boar) reincarnation of Vishnu was widely worshipped in those times :

So was the Vamana(dwarf) or Trivikrama incarnation . Both these are virtually obsolete from the present day Hindu worship ...

Climb again ! 

The third cave : the vishnu cave temple.

An amazing pillar perspective with the Narasimha(Human+Lion) incarnation of Vishnu inside can be seen. The Vishnu on Adishesha is on the opposite end.

The final and fourth cave has the Jain temple : Parshvanath  , Bahubali with creepers growing on him while in meditation (shown below)  in the walls and Mahavira in the Garbha Griha .

The picturesque Agasthya Tirtha Tank and Bhootnath temple can be seen from the very top . The wedding in the film Guru was shot here .

The opposite hill and the shiva temple on the top can be seen. This hill and the ramparts are very popular with films Rowdy Rathore and others having been shot here .

we descended down and bid adieu to the grand historical places. 

As the fields again whizzed past, i couldn't help but reminisce about how human beings are creatures of their times - their efforts to  imprint forever in the sands of time -  in order to remind future generations of how they lived and what they achieved . 

Wassup so far ?

A year full of high impact personal events have kept me from going to any serious place worthy of a blog.

Proud parents to a second child !

Next post should be planned pretty soon

A whirlwind trip to Goa

 A "whirlwind" trip to a relaxing place like Goa - sounds rather strange and out of place . How can anyone think of having a 12 hour stay in Goa ?  well , this is how the whole thing unfolded ....

we were supposed to drop my parents to Hubli and given that i haven't really taken Nachiket to any place worthy of mention in the last 1.2 years , we decided at the very last moment that we will drive to Goa from Hubli. I booked for 2 nights in the only hotel i could get 2 days before - in Hotel Ginger , Panaji. As i was to later realize , i could manage only 1 night in Panaji - given the amount of driving i had to do eventually .

Day 1 - 6/Oct : Thursday

Drove from Bangalore to Hubli  from  8 am to 2 pm , stopping enroute only for breakfast @ Kamat after the Dobbaspet  . Since i hadn't slept well the night before , i felt really tired after reaching Hubli. Took some rest , did some shopping in the evening and hit the bed early .

Day 2 - 7/Oct : Friday

Started from Hubli at 9 am . Decided to take the Karwar-Panaji Route and estimated the time to take just around 3 hours. What a gross under-estimate this would prove to be !

The NH-63 route from Hubli takes us through Yellapur and the Arebail Ghat . we reach a point near Baaleguli  where the highway intersects the NH17 . The left leads to Ankola/Mangalore and the right takes us to Karwar/Panaji. we reached Karwar at 12 noon. The first sight of the sea happens here . They have the Naval Sea bird here followed by coast guard stations and so they have covered the road with high walls. At karwar we get the sea vista followed by the Kali River bridge which has an amazing view .

Nachiket is standing on the backdrop of the first sea vista just before Karwar town.

After Karwar , the roads start twisting and turning and we pass through innumerable small towns and villages enroute to Panaji. The roads are narrow and the speed really slows down to 40-50 kmph . It took us a while to reach Margoa town - we have to pass through the town and we finally reached Panaji at 2:30 pm . A good 5:30 hour drive!


After some enquiry , we  reached our destination - Ginger Hotel @ Panaji. This is situated just behind the KTC bus stand ( Kadamba ) and the bus stand itself is on the highway. A foul smell of garbage greets you just opposite the Ginger hotel and thankfully the inside sounds/feels much better.

This was my first in a Ginger and the room felt really small. There is a window AC installed and everything just the right "functional" stuff . Everything felt clean and just ok. we had our lunch in their dining area adjacent to the reception . The "veg mini meal" was just the right quantity and we were eager to see at least a few places for whatever was remaining in the day.

we hired a taxi just outside the hotel and asked the driver to head to whatever we could see under 3 hours.From Panaji , we have to cross the Mandovi River over the bridge to go to any of the places in North Goa.There are actually 2 bridges and the driver ensured he always took the "new bridge"  - he kept saying that the old bridge had fallen once before !

We went first to the Aguada Fort since this closes before 5 pm .Aguada means "watering place" in Portugese - it served as vantage point and a watering station for their ships. It has a dried up moat surrounding it. It also has a lighthouse , though entry to this is barred now.

Aguada Fort offers excellent view of the sea from it's wall slits ....

 

One has to be careful while walking on the edge around the walls !

 Note : This is not the fort where the Dil Chahta Hai was shot - that's the Chapora Fort.

On the way back we passed by the Taj Vivanta and Kingfisher villa both of which have their own private beaches.

 After that , we headed directly to Calangute - the most famous beach in North Goa . However , we were held up in a big traffic jam . Our cab guy Prashant suggested us to go to Baga instead.

Baga is to be seen to be believed . Totally "cluttered" beach and you will be jostling with other people just to stand somewhere ! Beach Bed rentals were @ 100/- . It has a host of watersporting facilities - Jet-ski was 300/- per person , I don't know about Parasailing and Banana Boat rides.

Not wanting to be left out and not being able to bargain below that price , i decided to Jet-ski with Nachiket. It was a good fun ride but a very short one - you have this feeling of being looted . There's just so much crowd , so much loud music - reminded me of the MTV show on the beach . I can "really" appreciate what it means to have a quieter beach anywhere in the world now that i have seen Baga. I wonder how Calangute is , but it's not surely for me !

I would surely recommend "my types" to just get down @ Baga and then get out of there as fast as possible.
Sunset @ Baga : 

Knowing what we felt like , our guy drove us to Vagator . Now , this is the quieter beach in the north . we reach this on a cliff offering excellent viewpoint and then there are steps down to the beach. It was quite late already , but we could see the chapora fort ruins and photograph flashlights from everywhere. Vagator was the beach i was looking for and it probably is among the few in North Goa.

More traffic Jams greeted us on the way back and we were terribly exhausted to try the other possible options - such as the Cruise in the Mandovi River. we were suggested to take early tickets for the rides the last of which happens @ 8:30 pm . Nachiket was already asleep in the car and we just headed back to the Hotel.

Day 3 : 8/Oct Friday

In the morning we decided that we have to cancel the next day's booking in order to manage the drive back and reach Bangalore on Sunday.We decided to cover 3 places at max in the  4 hours we had until noon .

we had a very forgettable and overpriced buffet breakfast at the Hotel Ginger . we headed out @ 9 am , this time to the Dolphin watch at serqueim. This place is just before the Aguada again on the bank of the mandovi river. Small engine powered 10 seater boats takes us into the sea where Dolphins can be seen. we strapped the safety jackets around - it just felt much safer !

This is a highly recommended ride. The amazingly soothing wind of the sea brushing you , the boat chugging along the waves , the quietness of the sea all around you  - Dolphin or not , it still is worth it . In fact , they have some money back if you don't see the Dolphin .  

The ride takes you through a prison where you get to see the convicts ( and they get to see you !!! ) and  "Jimmy's Private Bungalow" on the edge of the coast - the boat guy said Jimmy is a diamond merchant and this is only occasionally rented for movies -  a fantastic view ....

we got some merchant boats en-route ....

we managed to get a glimpse of the Dolphins. They get irritated by the sound of the boats and were disappearing whenever we tried to get near them . It was fun trying to look all around and see where they pop up. A speed boat trying to suddenly reach them ended up shooing them away. Done with 4-5 sightings , our driver turned back .I could get only a small portion of the creatures' when it came up in this snap :

 we had only extension till 1 pm for checking out of the Hotel and so we were left with only 1 more option to see something else. It would be either the Church in Old Goa or the Dona Paula. Nachiket veto-ed the Church and opted for the sea view again .


Back to Panaji over the bridge and we headed to the Dona Paula viewpoint - where the recent Singham movie was shot. This road is really amazing - the road just skirts the sea shore and it has well paved footpaths and benches. Apparently the locals take a walk regularly and relax on these benches in the evening. It's a real good walkway .

Dona Paula has a very good viewpoint . Singham had this scene where @ Dona Paula , Ajay Devgan breaks one of the lamp posts with his hand and Nachiket asked me " why are the lamp posts so tall and thick ? it seemed shorter  in the movie " - this was followed by the usual parental preaching on how everything is unreal in the movies :-)

There were also water sport options here and i felt we should have taken the rides here - they seemed longer . we also bought some T-shirts and had very good Lime Soda here.

On the way back , we stopped over the Miramar beach . Again a quiet beach , but one with sea shells. I managed to collect some good shells to add to my shell collection .

On the way back , we bought some good cashew and Kokum juice at a place called "Zantye's cashew corner" . They have good long/thick cashew variety and is worth it.

Upon a suggestion from another driver , we decided to take another route back to Hubli. The main consideration - i don't want to face the Ghats when it's night time . I was suggested to go up north to Savantwadi and then take the SH-131 to Belgaum. we started at 2:15 pm.

This proved to be a very good drive , but we were in for a pleasantly frightening Ghat ride - the Amboli Ghat . Just look at what i mean .

we get the Amboli Dhab-Dhaba at the highest point . A very neat waterfall . we also had some good Maharashtrain savories like the Vada Pav , Kanda Bhaji and good tea at a shack here.

  

we reached Belgaum at around 6 pm through the SH-131 which was kind of a mixed ride . Good earlier , but later part was having potholes. After Belgaum , the fantastic NH-4 greets us and i drove at good speeds to reach Hubli in 1:15 hours .

So , either way - it's around 5:30 hours from Hubli to Panaji . However , the choice of routes to avoid Ghats at night time was a right decision in the hindsight.

Day 4- 9 Oct , Sunday 

After a good night sleep , started back to Bangalore on the NH-4 at 9 am and reached in very good time at 1:30 pm .

Covered approx 1200 kms over 4 days , with ~7 hour drive every day .I have this "Live to Drive" sticker on the back of my Honda City and I believe i really lived this for the past 4 days !

Touch and Go trip this time around  - South Goa will be the point of destination  for my next visit to Goa .