Place · Chalukya cave-temple town · India
Badami
Also known as Battle of Vatapi, Vatapi
The Chalukya cave-temple complex at Badami in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, cut into the red sandstone bluffs above the Agastya Lake in the 6th century under Pulakeshin I and Kirtivarman I. The four main caves — three Hindu (one Shaiva, two Vaishnava) and one Jain — hold the earliest datable rock-cut sculpture in the Deccan outside the Buddhist caves. The Vaishnava Cave 3 (578 CE) with its Trivikrama, Varaha, Narasimha and Vishnu panels is the masterpiece. Badami was the first Chalukya capital before Vatapi; the three-site complex of Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal maps the Chalukya evolution from cave-cutting through experimental temple-building to mature royal architecture.
- Function
- Archaeology & heritage
- Patron dynasty
- Pallava / Chalukya
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 15.918, 75.680
Worth knowing
As Vātāpi, the Chalukya capital, it was stormed by the Pallava Narasimhavarman I in 642, who took the title Vātāpikoṇḍa.
Connections (3)
- Contemporary capital withPattadakal
Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal lie within about thirty kilometres of each other on the Malaprabha, and between them they contain the working-out of the south Indian temple: Aihole the experimental village of a hundred and twenty temples, Badami the cave-cut capital, Pattadakal the mature ensemble where Nagara and Dravida forms were built side by side under royal patronage. It is the densest architectural laboratory in India.
- CampaignMahabalipuram
The Chalukyas of Badami and the Pallavas of Kanchi fought each other for two centuries, each sacking the other's capital at least once — Pulakeshin II raided the Pallava country, Narasimhavarman took Badami in 642 and left an inscription there saying so. Both sides carried masons home, which is why the Chalukya and Pallava temple traditions converge in the seventh century despite the war.
- Site withinBanashankari, Badami
The Banashankari Devi temple sits within Badami in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, 5 kilometres from the Badami Chalukya cave temple complex. The goddess temple's 7-century Chalukya foundation and 17-18 century Chalukya-Maratha composite structure make it part of the Badami temple-fort ensemble, with the Harihara Tirtha tank linking it to the broader Chalukya archaeological heritage zone that includes the Pattadakal UNESCO complex and the Aihole experimental temples.
On these journeys
Sources
Badami cave temples — ASI
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