North Karnataka’s Threesome — Badami, Aihole, & Pattadakallu

If you are coming from Pattadakal, this will be to your right-hand side just when Aihole is about a kilometre away, I think. Pattadakal (or Pattadakallu in the Kannada language), a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a harmonious blend of architectural forms from northern and southern India. It’s a series of temples with intricate carvings that make you wonder how proficient they were in their art. But unfortunately, most of these are damaged due to erosion (as per Wikipedia). You can still see several fine carvings on the walls of these temples. While Aihole and Pattadakal can be done in a couple of hours each, you’d need almost a day in Badami. Though people generally do all three in one day, I’d recommend you to keep one full day for Badami. Just be careful about the naughty monkeys around here.

Badami is full of surprises with a variety of places that you’d never expect, all within town limits. While on one side, there are these famous cave temples carved out of red sandstones that are a sight to behold, on the other is Bhutanatha temple overlooking the serene Agastya Lake, and then you have breathtaking views from the lower and upper Shivalaya behind the Archeological Museum. Here’s a look at one of the four cave temples housed in the mammoth red sandstones and the intricate details inside these caves.

And you can get an incredible view of part of Badami town, the serene and beautiful Agastya Lake, and the lower and upper Shivalaya on the opposite side. I recommend you go to the cave temples early in the morning, at about 6:30, so you can get the best views. Once you are done with the cave temples, you can visit the Bhutanatha temple overlooking the serene Agastya Lake, which is a few hundred meters after the Archeological Museum. It’s a great place to embrace nature’s beauty while walking around the temple complex.

You can cover the Archeological Museum, which has some stone sculptures and artefacts from the 6-16th centuries. The most surprising thing of all is the lower and upper Shivalaya temples, especially the climb up these huge sandstones that’ll leave you spellbound. I mean, they are simply breathtaking! It’s not a steep climb, though it might seem so from some pictures. My daughter, who’ll turn six soon, had a great time climbing. You can even see a breathtaking panoramic view of Badami town from up here. There is so much variety and beauty in this place that you’ll start to wonder why you haven’t come here before. At least, that’s how I felt. Now brace for something that’s just out of this world. As you climb all the way up, you’ll see some of these unbelievable formations of rocks, and pools of water here and there, reflecting the blue sky and serenity..
 

At the very top where you find these views is the Northern Fort temple. It looks like it’s best to visit this place during the sunset, which is what we did, and it was simply brilliant. Though, they’ll send you back by 6 so that you can climb back down before sunset as there are no lights anywhere. A word of caution: When you go to visit the Museum, Agastya lake, and Shivalaya temples, take an auto rickshaw no matter what locals would say, because the road is so narrow that even a motorbike can’t cross. Another advantage of going by a rickshaw is that you can embrace the narrow streets, beautiful old houses, and tiny shops, instead of constantly worrying whether your car will come out unscathed or not. Not to mention the pain of going in reverse if another vehicle comes your way. And trust me, they do!

So, I hope I have given you enough reasons to plan your trip to Badami, Aihole, and Pattadakallu, bring back memories and share them with others just like I did.