Chalukya Heritage: Aihole and Pattadakal

Chalukya Geneology: those in green are
known to provide more patronage to
temple building

At around 135 km from Hospet [and 500 km from Bangalore], Badami is a small town in Bagalkot district of North Karnataka but it used to be the capital of the great Chalukya kingdom during the period C. 550-754 A. D. It is told that Aihole [old Aryapura] had the honour of being the capital of Chalukya dynasty before the capital moved to Badami. Pattadakal a small village at around 30 km from Badami and 10 km from Aihole used to be the place for coronation of Chalukyan Kings at that time. But today Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami are known more as the tourist spot, a place that boasts of great architecture heritages of ancient Chalukya empire, the empire that used to cover from the present western karnataka/goa coast to entire Kaveri/Narmada basin under its rule at its peak.
Historians largely credit Pulakesin I [literally means tiger-haired] to establish the Chalukya empire at around 550 AD a little after Gupta empire declined. Although historians differ about the origin of Chalukyas, the Chalukya period is considered to be the golden age of Karnataka history.
The most prominent among the Chalukyan Kings were Pulakeshin I and II and Vikramaditya II. They were attributed to most of the development and expansion that happened under this dynasty. They were also recognized to have hugely contributed to cultural development of the state. Hsüan-tsang who visited Harshavardhana in north also travelled to Badami during the rule of Pulakesin II. The Chalukya patronage not only contributed immensely to the development of Kannada as the language [there are quite a few inscriptions in Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal which are in Saskrit but written in old Kannada script showing the evolution of Kannada as a language] , it also helped maturing dravidian style of architecture. Both Aihole and Pattadakal show some of the glorious development of south Indian temple architectures. History attributes Kirtivarman I and Mangalesha for construction of Badami cave temples [covered in my last post] but it was Pulakesin II who oversaw the development of different temples in Aihole.

Aihole Temple complex

Present ASI heritage site of Aihole is a complex of 22 temples built at different times during Chalukyan period. Typical features unique to Badami Chalukyas architecture include mortarless assembly, an emphasis on length rather than width or height, flat roofs, richly carved ceilings, and, sculpturally, an emphasis on relatively few major figures, which tend to be isolated from each other rather than arranged in crowded groups. The aesthetic sensibility of sculpture from this period also seems to retain a certain classical quality whose impulse does not carry over into later periods of Indian art (Susan Huntington, 1985). Aihole served as the laboratory of rock craftsmanship. They mixed contemporary south-indian and north indian styles to bring up something unique. Usage of curved towers decorated with blind arches came from northern India. Plastered walls with panel inserts are a southern Indian style. Two temples in this complex are worth a little elaboration.

Durga Temple from Front

Lad Khan temple [photo] is one of the first of Chalukyan temples, some believe to be constructed as a sample in 450 A.D, perhaps for Lord Shiva. The mukha mantapa in front of the sanctum has a set of 12 carved pillars.There are also stone grids on the wall carrying floral designs. The windows are filled with lattice style which is a north Indian style.

Durga Temple at Aihole from the backside

Durga temple or fortress temple is the best known of the Aihole temples and is very photogenic. It is apsidal in plan, along the lines of a Buddhist chaitya, a high moulded adisthana and a tower - curvilinear shikhara. A pillared corridor runs around the temple, enveloping the shrine, the mukhamantapa and the sabhamantapa. All through the temple, there are beautiful carvings. The temple appears to be of the late 7th or early 8th century. ASI note suggests that the temple initially was designed for Sun-god and later converted to Durga temple.

Pattadakal

Pattadakal temple complex: seen both the Nagara style and
Vimana style temples

Pattadakal was another place where Chalukya empire patroned evolution of temple architecture. Historians believe that Pattadaakal helped maturing Vimana-style of temple architecture seen in all south india and also was used to build the Kailasnath temple in Ellora. The complex shows various temples built either in North Indian Nagara style [Kashi Vishwanath temple] or mix of north and dravidian style or fully evolved Dravidian Vimana style. Virupaksha temple built by Queen Lokamahadevi (Trilokyamahadevi) in around 745AD to commemorate  victory of Vikramaditya II over the Pallavas of Kanchi resembles the famous Kanchi temple of Pallava empire. The temple is richly decorated with stone engraving depicting stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata all around. The Shivalingam in the temple is still worshipped today. There is another temple identical to it but smaller than the original Virupaksha temple and ASI note says that it was built by the second queen of Vikramaditya II, who incidentally was sister of Queen Lokamahadevi.
More photos are available at Picasa album.

How to go there

Badami is the nearest railway station for Pattadakal. Badami (Station Code:BDM ) itself is on the less busy Solapur-Gadag route. This means, there are not many long distance trains connect Badami directly with other metro cities in the region. Hubli and Hospet are the major junctions nearby. Hubli is connected to Bangalore and has many trains running between Bangalore and Hubli.  This site provides a comprehensive list of alternative routes. But my personal suggestion would be that you club this with Hampi. That way you can stay in Hampi and take a tourist cab [pelnty available] from Hampi/Hospet for a day trip to Badami.  Since Aihole and Pattadakal are nearby, you can cover them in one day.

Reference

http://www.preservearticles.com/2011101715538/short-essay-on-the-chalukyas-of-badami.html
http://ratnagiri.nic.in/Gazetter/GOM/his_chalukyas.html