The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their
My main worry while on our tour
of Badami and surrounding places was how Samhith would react to seeing just
sculptures and temples all day long. He had tired of temples after Aihole and
Pattadakkal, but Badami was interesting because of the caves. Besides, the
beautiful work on the rough stone, made over a thousand years ago seemed to
excite him. However, by the time we had climbed up to the third cave, his
enthusiasm was flagging, especially seeing all the other visiting children
clambering all over (something I wouldn’t allow him to do!) I hoped there would
be something in the third cave to keep him attentive, but I needn’t have
worried! He was all agog, because, by now, he could identify some of the
figures by himself, something which impressed our guide, and this made him feel
extremely proud of himself!
The third cave is also dedicated
to Vishnu and is the most beautiful one with the most intricate of sculptures.
Varaha is seen again, his feet on
the ocean bed, lifting Bhudevi with one hand. Here, she is not even touching
the tusk, but seems to be supporting herself by holding his shoulder. Varaha
seems to be a predominant figure here, since he was their main deity. Varaha
figures even on the emblem of the Badami Chalukyas. (To read the story of Varaha, click here)
This figure of Vishnu shows him
with all his weapons. We were told that this one might be a Vaishnavite door
guardian.
The next figure in this cave is
yet another incarnation of Lord Vishnu – Narasimha. To read the story of
Narasimha, click here.
Interestingly, the figure of
Narasimha is shown in a standing posture. He is usually depicted as seated, or
more often than not, he is shown in an angry form, disemboweling Hiranyakashipu
with his bare hands! Here, on the other hand, he actually appears to be smiling
(by a stretch of my imagination at least!), and is depicted in a stylish way,
leaning on a club (part of which has broken off). There are various figures
around him, among which the one on the left appears to be Prahalada.
The next figure is another one of
Harihara.Here, the details are somewhat
clearer, in spite of the wear and tear of the rock on which the figure has been
carved. The differences on the Shiva and Vishnu sides are more apparent here.
We now come to another figure of
Trivirama - Vamana.Again, the details are exquisite
– see the story depicted at the bottom, though not much remains of the details
on the side. To read the story of Vamana, click here.
While each figure here has many
interesting points, the main figure here is certainly the most interesting.
This is Vishnu in the Lalitasana pose (posture of royal ease), seated on
Adishesha. Now, Vishnu and Adishesha are inseparable, and Vishnu is often
depicted sleeping or leaning on Adishesha. However, this one seems to be one of
the very few (and probably the only one, but am not sure of that) depictions of
Vishnu seated on Adishesha in such a pose.
This cave was particularly
overcrowded, but our guide bade us to wait for a while, saying that there was
something we HAD to see. Once the children had moved, this is what we could
see……
The long line of pillars in the
hall seemed to flank the image of the Lord, and none of the other sculptures
were visible. It is believed that this depicts the court of the Chalukya king,
and the Lord is depicted in the same posture that the king is seen in, at court!
Interesting, isn’t it?
This cave is special not just for
these carvings, but for the amount of details on the pillars and ceilings….
Here is what we saw on the ceiling…
This shows Kubera – the God of
wealth….
This one shows Indra, the king of
the gods, riding his elephant – Airavata. He is surrounded by eight figures,
who might be the ashta dikpalakas, or the guardians of the eight directions.
This one shows Shiva and Parvati
riding the bull, surrounded by the Ganas… on the right are Ganesha and Karthikeya
Even the brackets have been beautifully
carved! Each one has a pair of yakshas (divine couples) in various postures and
garments. Here are some of them.
Interestingly, this cave would
have once been covered with paintings. Today, we can barely see a trace of
them, if you look close. Go over some of these photos and see if you can spot
the colours!
The third cave is the last of
those here dedicated to Hindu gods. The fourth and final cave is a Jaina cave,
which you can look forward to seeing in my next post.
Badami Factfile
- Location: Badami is located in Karnataka, 30 Kms from Bagalkot and 589 Km from Bangalore
- Nearest Airport: Belgaum, 190 Km
- Nearest Railway station: Hubli, 100 Km
- Accomodation: There are plenty of options for staying in Badami, but most of them are lodges and low to medium end hotels. The best is certainly the Karnataka Tourism hotel Maurya Chalukya
- Around Badami:
- Bijapur – 125 Km
- Aihole – 46 Km
- Pattadakkal – 29 Km
- Hospet – 190 Km
beautifully covered . Just love this place .
ReplyDeletegreat pictures and write-up. Makes me wanna go there again.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys had a great time there. BTW, did you meet the rowdy monkeys of Badami? and did you climb the fort that is opposite the Badami cave temple?
Your images are wonderful. Yes, Badami is a beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteHow much planning and architectural skills have gone into the temples. Loved the one especially where the Lord is presiding over his court seated on his snake throne.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photographs. I am also coming across Vishnu in a seated posture for the first time. Usually he is seen to be resting all the time unmindful of what is going on in the World. He was our Nero.
ReplyDeleteLovely clicks...esp the one where Lord depicted as in the court scene. As I read about each cave, it makes want to go there.
ReplyDeleteThanks!!! it s a really beautiful place! one I would love to visit again and again!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Oh yes, we did meet them! mentioned them in the previous post too :) but thankfully, they didnt trouble us so much, or rather, they didnt seem too troublesome compared to the kids around! yes, we climbed the fort too.. that was a real treat! we all loved it! hey, u have to catch up with my last few posts !! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYou hit it on the head!! just imagine the kind of planning, the kind of skill needed! we had so much, but so little remains! and worse so few of us are aware of this!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! me too! and we were told that this was the only such carving....
ReplyDeleteLOL about the comparison! never thought of it that way! but yes, he does seem to be amused all the time at the antics the gods and mortals get up to....
THanks Jayasree! u shd really go sometime! its a beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots those marvelous sculptures.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! On my must visit list!
ReplyDeleteYou have taken such wonderful pictures, very well presented.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rajesh!
ReplyDeleteYes, Deepak! you should def go.... would love to see this place thru ur lens too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Indrani!
ReplyDeletethanks for such endearing photographs..it has been skillfully documented and presented... kudos!
ReplyDeleteThanks Natasha!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful beautiful Beautiful ,
ReplyDeleteYour photos and write up on Badami caves 1, 2, 3 is exceptionly good . I liked it very much. Please keep giving pleaure to all.
Beautiful,Beautiful,Beautiful,
ReplyDeleteYour write up and photos of Badami Caves 1,2,&3 is exceptionally good and I liked it very much . Keep on giving pleasure to all