A long weekend with series of holidays and an outing was on the cards. With my sister and niece having their Summer holidays, pulled them in and planned a trip to a destination that was left unchecked in my bucket list for a very long time - Badami!
With Summer at it's peak, North Karnataka is infamous for it's harsh Summer. Most of them including Neena (from Mini and Jone Hospitality who planned this trip as well) warned us of the unbearable heat and weather conditions. We still preferred to visit Badami, than the typical, usual weekend getaways which are overcrowded.
Mentally preparing ourselves to be under brutal scorching Sun over the next 3 days, we packed some of our summer friendly clothing, sun shades, sun cream, umbrella and Caps.
After much research on the route to be taken either via Hubli or via Hospete, I finally decided to take Hospete route.
Started at 9.30 in the morning, set out our 9 hours long journey on NH48, and switching to NH50 at Chitradurga.
The drive was peaceful, picturesque and at ease.
The pitstop at Tungabadra Dam was a good start to our trip, which eventually turned out to be a Photo Ops Marathon.
Reached The Heritage Resort, Badami by 6.30PM and rested for the day. It's a cosy, little resort with extremely caring and courteous staff, very well maintained and a very comfortable and large Cottages.
Probably I can never take a complete break from my work, even on Vacation as I had to spend couple hours everyday as and when I could.
After a good Breakfast at the resort, we started the day on a pre-scheduled plan from the local Guide - Ramesh.
We started our day from Aihole, where Ramesh joined us and took us through the day.
Pleasingly coincidental, it magically turned out to be cloudy through out the day, with soothing and pleasant weather made us feel blessed and experience our visits with even more joy, without having to shield ourselves, and the Cloud cover did the job for us!
A peek into the 6th Century, the glory of Chalukyas was screaming loud in every rock, every sculpture.
Building temples was not only for spiritual reasons, but they used them as a Lab to display their knowledge, a university in itself.
The kings and emperors used to travel far and north, and invite artisans to educate and expose their local population on varied cultures.
Each stone and carving highlights their understanding, interest in our mythology and their way of documenting life back then, lessons and values.
We couldn't stop patting our own backs for deciding to take a Guide, instead of being on our own. Though the Guide charged us 2,500 for a full day package, believe me, it was worth every penny.
We probably would have ended up taking some touristy pictures and quickly covering all places. The guide made us understand that there are millions of stories that each stone has to say, how intelligent and aware were people back then and more than everything, to be aware of our rich heritage and stories each idol, each carving was purposed.
The Guide even knew how and where to take the perfect picture.
No adjectives or words explaining and appreciating what we saw, will do justice to the vision of the rulers of those times, their interest in sharing knowledge to future generations, the expertise, intelligence and understanding of Science by the artisans in 6th Century itself!
The beautiful pictures says it all!
If Aihole was Cradle of Hindu architecture where Artisans experimented and learnt basics of sculpturing, our next destination Pattadhakallu was High School of Arts.
It looked more richer, and had more content to convey. What we saw was nothing short of mesmerizing beauty.
Fashion, Art, Science, Life style that we all are proud today, was already in practice in 6th Century itself. For Ex: Representation of women in inebriated state, which few even now feel women drinking alcohol is a taboo or who claim as not part of our culture, was indeed in practice since 6th Century!
The well known meme of our times when we say "When you are in your prime and peak of youth, even a Female Ass looks beautiful" was indeed true even those days. In this picture below, they even go a step ahead and say "And when the couple gets married, both become Asses".
Or the one that represents how a hungry stomach can become an evil!
The name Pattadhakallu came from its purpose to Coronate Kings those days and a platform for exhibiting art and skills.
Back to our Resort from a rather tiring outing, we had our lunch and rested for a while.
We were again Off to Badami Caves in the evening. With a good feel that we get from extremely well maintained Aihole and Pattadhakallu, the narrow roads and slums around, welcomes you to Badami Caves.
Again no words to describe the stunning beauty of the Badami Caves. One can only stand and appreciate how one could do such a marvelous and mammoth piece of art, with pure human labor and intelligent techniques.
What was more interesting was the temples, sculptures belonged to Jainism, Budhism and Hinduism, representing how secular Hindus were since 6th Century.The Devotees who today conveniently stop few 100 years back in the History to claim we were exclusive Hindu Nation!
And those who believe our heritage and temples were demolished "only" by Mughals and Britishers as per the trumpets blown by media and Politicians, should visit such places and hear the History. No doubt the Mughals and other foreign rulers did harm, the localites, villagers and our own people were equally responsible as many occupied these monuments and made their homes, many stole Stones to build houses.
Britishers are also to be thanked for saving many such gems from the local looters, improve them and eventually being taken over by Archeology department
Anyways...when you are in this part of Karnataka, a visit is incomplete without buying the famous Ilkal sarees, and the ladies would not miss the opportunity!
Next day was leisurely spent as we had only few places left to cover.Started from the resort after Lunch and Badami gave us a taste of it's harsh Summer, as we could barely spend time in the open.
Soon the rain gods smiled at us again and the cloud cover ensured our rest of the day was pleasant.
Our next destination was Agasthya Lake overlooking the Badami Caves, and couple of more places along the Lake.
The approach road is as horrible as it could get, probably that's why not many tourists come to visit the place.
With slums all around, it's extremely difficult to reach the Lake Area. The localites have completely occupied the surroundings and made it messy. The roads are so narrow that Car fits the entire road width and its a nightmare to drive on those lanes. Reaching Agasthya Lake area by Autorickshaws is definitely a better option.
We first visited the Archeological Museum, that was well maintained and details the Photos, artifacts and showcases good collection of 6th Century culture, language, scriptures.
Right next to the Museum is the entrance to the Fort, that gave a natural protection and a hide out for the civilians during Wars.
A good trek up the Rock and some difficult passages takes you to the Staircase of Heaven.
Grand Rocks, standing tall and wide giving mesmerizing views of the Lake, the town and Caves.
I have not seen Grand Canyon in the USA, but people who have seen it tell me they experience God's presence, the vastness, the majestic and enormous views makes one feel and see God.
My experience with what I was seeing and experiencing was close to that!
After climbing down the Hill, we walked to Bhootnath Temple on the banks of the Lake.
The Lake, the Temple was so soothing, and the quick spell of rains made the surroundings just heavenly. We spent a lot of time there sitting and consuming the perfect synchrony between man's ability and mother earth's beauty, grace and magnificence.
After spending some of the most memorable and beautiful time along the Lake, we headed towards Banashankari Temple. A grand old temple and a Shakti Peeta, again built in 7th Century.
The Temple, ambience, the goddess reminds us of Kolhapur Lakshmi Temple.
The beautiful idol of Banashankari was a treat for the eyes and a perfect conclusion for yet another amazing trip.
Malini and Mahima thoroughly enjoyed the trip, a kind of outing to their liking that was adventurous, yet relaxing. Without their push, the lazy couple that me and Preeti are, would not have enjoyed the trip as we did. We bid adieu to Badami, and are now hitting the long road back to Bangalore, with GBs of Photos and memories.
One takeaway for me after the peek into our history, was the balance they maintained and harmony with Religion and with Nature. They used it with respect and care, unlike the present day where everything is abused - be it Religion or Nature!
