Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal
Guidebooks
In the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, there rest three unique locations for any traveller afflicted by wanderlust. The first of these, Badami, was once the capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540–757 AD. In this idyllic landscape, in a ravine at the foot of the rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake, one can find ancient temples cut into the rocks. Legend says that the sage Agastya killed the terrible asura Vatapi near this location, and the nearby areas boasted the most famous architectural achievements of the period.
Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal have some of the finest rock-cut monuments in India, and here, Jain and Hindu monuments come together in a great congress of Indian architecture, left unrivalled in their preservation and expressive nature for all time.
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Author(s)
George Michell
George Michell obtained his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for his dissertation on early-Chalukya temple architecture. Since then his research has ranged from surveys of town planning and Islamic buildings to studies of Hindu temple architecture and sculpture. During the 1980s and 1990s, he and Dr. John M. Fritz co-directed an extensive survey of Hampi-Vijayanagara.
Among his many publications are: The Royal Palaces of India, Hindu Art and Architecture, The Great Temple at Thanjavur, Mughal Architecture and Gardens, Late Temple Architecture of India, 15th to 19th Centuries and, together with Helen Philon, Islamic Architecture of Deccan India.
