Badami

Badami is an ancient town situated in the Bagalkot District in the north of Karnataka, India. Once a royal capital of the Chalukya Dynasty that ruled over the most parts of peninsular India, lies at the mouth of a ravine with 1992 ft of elevation above the sea level. The town of Badami is famous for its ancient cave temples carved out of the sandstone hills, composed of four caves each. The town is surrounded by a Agastya Tirtha lake which is famous for the healing property of its water and was earlier known by the name Valopi. It is believe that this name is related to the legend of the demon Vatapi, which is associated with Sage Agastya. Badami was founded by an earlier ruler of the Chalykya Dynasty, king Pulakeshi around 540 AD. Later, it fell into the hands of Pallavas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysales, Vijayanagara Rayas, Adil Shahis, Savanur Nawabs, Marathas, Hyder Ali and the British. Badami was included under Bombay Presidency during the British Raj. The rock-cut Badami Cave Temples were sculpted mostly between the 6th and 8th centuries. The four cave temples represent an important religious following. On the other hand, and from an architectural and archaeological perspective, they provide critical evidence of the early styles and stages of the southern Indian architecture. The walls of these cave temples also have inscriptions that date back to 6th and 8th centuries.
Beside a road connecting Badami lies a temple of Rashtrakuta style which has no historical record. A spacious porch with twelve circular columns, the entry of this temple is flanked by elephant torsos just mentioned leads to a mantapa that has 4 columns in the middle which is leaded by a vestibule to the sanctuary. Although its exterior walls were never completed the passage goes around the sanctuary which contains a tower with an upper chamber and a rood of kuta with kudus decorated on four sides. On the walls, extraordinary life sized elephant torsos and the Jina figure carved inside a kudo