An Experience Closed to Heart

Karnataka is a hub of culture & heritage. As such, we planned a road trip for the heritage sites which included also world heritage locations. The road trip was planned for 4 days out of which, 3 days were reserved for places like Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Hampi & Bijapur.

The first destination planned was Badami in a sequence & the distance from Bangalore was quite long. Hence we covered half a distance till Davanagere on the previous night. Effortlessly, driving on the four lane highway. The next day the last lane to Badami covered 500 kms.

We realized Badami, Aihole & Pattadakal are almost interrelated & nearby. However, the only place were one can find comfortable accommodation is Badami. Except couple of decent hotels, the efforts of Government for setting up infrastructure have not been witnessed. The roads is another problem. However, the distance between the sites is just 20 kms. Hence manageable.

On day 1, we reached Badami at noon, checked into the hotel & had lunch. Thereafter, decided to explore Pattadakal, Aihole. These regions are quite dry & would remind you the desert landscape. The localites have frugal life & the area is poverty driven. This is in actually sharp contrast with the locations around Hampi where lush green fields greet you. Thanks to the Tungabhadra dam. Aihole is just around 12km from Pattadakal which was earlier known Ayyavole & Aryapura. This was the first capital of Chalukyas before shifting to Vatapi, now called Badami. In this region, around 125 big & small temples exist in old & ruined condition. Aihole mythology says Parashurama (incarnation of Vishnu) washed his axe in Malaprabha river killing the Kshatriya’s clan. River turned red due to blood & local lady after seeing shouted ‘Ayyo, Hole!’ (oh no, blood flow). As such, it was named as ‘Aihole’. Another story is that of Saint Agastya who killed demon Ilvala here. Hence named ‘Aihole’. Ayya Hole which denotes ‘city of scholars’ in Sanskrit. Hence the name “Aihole”.

The attraction of Aihole is the Durga temple which resembles Indian Parliament building. The temple was built during 7^th & 8^th century by Chalukyas. The temples is Dravidian with Nagara style of architecture. In fact, this temple is of either Vishnu or Shiva. The temples are of solid granites perfectly cut & organized. Carvings on the pillars depict what the ancient people could do.  Temple is must see & masterpiece of Aihole.

We spent around 2 hours to enjoy the beauty of these group of monuments & the most imposing amongst them is Virupaksha temple. The interesting aspect of these temples that these were used for worshipping Shiva.

The most appreciating is ASI maintains these sites quite well & the temples are surrounded by lush green lawn. With the contrast, with the monuments they adore.

The experience is really heart touching & it was more accentuated by our stay in Clarksinn hotel at Badami. The comforts offered by Clarksinn were unparalleled to the location.

Related tags : Hotels in Badami, Budget Hotels in Badami, 

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