Badami -> Aihole -> Raichur -> Hyderabad (24.11.24)

A long drive today after a few days of short driving - 420 km to the edge of Hyderabad. We reverted to our old routine of leaving by 7.00 am after a cuppa. The early morning chill was very welcome and it suddenly reminded us that winter was almost upon us.

Temples at Aihole (8.00 am)

We were driving out past Aihole once again, and since we missed out on a couple of temples during yesterday's visit, we decided to stop by and complete our coverage. Such dedication, no?

The Ravana Phadi was once again a rock-cut temple like the Badami ones, though the cave was much smaller in size, and not...er...cavernous. There were some beautiful carvings of the forms of Shiva and Parvati inside the temple. In fact this is the oldest of the Aihole temples, being 6th century Chalukya. No idea how Ravana came into the picture, though.

Shri Hucchimalli temple was another Shiva temple, like in the complex we saw yesterday. There was a walled pond in front, which made it look quite sophisticated.

Breakfast on the way (9.00 am)

It could have been because it was a Sunday or because it was Karnataka, food outlets just about started to up their shutters at 9.00 am. I don't know about others, but I get pretty tense if I see a possibility of breakfast being skipped. We finally collared a young lady Nazmeen running a small breakfast shanty, and the upma she was dishing out wasn't half bad.

Lunch at Raichur (1.00 pm)

Raichur was roughly midway, and ideally suited to fill our midriff. But where was the Raichur Fort that the internet had touted as the top of the 25 places to be seen at Raichur (the next two were library and park, and the rest etceteras)? After a lot of rubbernecking, we could spot a smallish fort at the top of a hill. A local gent on a cycle assured us very proudly that there was absolutely nothing to be seen there, and we had to climb a lot anyway. In fact, he said with patriotic fervour, that Raichur has no claim to fame at all. That put the lid firmly on our enthusiasm.

We located a decent restaurant and ordered biriyanis. Panna ordered "half mutton", while I was forced to upgrade to "full egg" because, for some inexplicable reason, egg biriyani couldn't be half, as if the two eggs being served were joined at the hip! Panna couldn't finish HER serving, so you can imagine how minor was the dent in MY portion. The kitchen staff would all have skipped dinner today.

Hyderabad entry (7.00 pm)

While the road upto Raichur was not particularly smooth, after that the NH167/44 to Hyderabad was like butter. Dusk descended as we entered Hyderabad, and the drive at 120 kmph along the Outer Ring Road was like a video game, as usual.

Right after passing Raichur, we started seeing fluffy white stuff blowing about the tarmac, and realised that it was cotton! Soon cotton fields appeared, some lying quiet and green, and some others with pods that had popped open and the fields looked like the crop was sprouting white flowers. We saw people plucking cotton in the fields and lines of trucks standing by the roadside where the bales of cotton were being loaded. Amazing sight!

We are staying three nights at Hyderabad, with family and friends. My next travel post well be on 27th Nov, when we leave for Kaleshwaram. Why there? Wait and find out.

Badami -> Pattadakallu -> Aihole -> Badami (23.11.24)

We were based in Badami today, and planned to visit the temples at Pattadakallu and Aihole and return to Badami to spend the night. The day's travel would be around 70 km, which is like a day's commute in Delhi.

For anyone wanting to visit this belt of temples, one can stay either in Badami or in Aihole and commute the rest. Given our travel plan, we should have stayed Night 1 at Badami and Night 2 at Aihole, and then carried on to Hyderabad. Ah well, the imperfections of road trip planning...

Both Badami and Aihole have KSTDC Mayura hotels, which are passable. Badami is a bigger town and has other options, but Aihole might not have alternatives.

Before we launch into the temple narrative, it is worth mentioning that while driving on the roads here, we noticed two phenomena. One, miles and miles of millet fields. We saw grains spread out over one side of the road, probably being dried, causing a serious traffic hazard. Cows are walking over them, and the occasional tire grinding them, I'm sure, and they are being scraped into big sacks for transportation. Both jowar and bajra rotis being made in small roadside hotels are a common sight. The second crop the fields are full of is sugarcane. Tractors pulling two trailers like a train, struggling up the mildest of slopes, transporting the cut stems to sugar factories, is also a common sight.

So why do these bunches of temples exist? 

Yesterday we saw the Badami caves, established in 6th century, forming the Badami Chalukya dynasty, and having Badami as a capital for some time.

Pattadakal represents the high point of an eclectic art which, in the 7th and 8th centuries under the Chalukya dynasty, achieved a harmonious blend of architectural forms from northern (Nagara) and southern (Dravidian) India. An impressive series of nine Hindu temples, as well as a Jain sanctuary, can be seen there.

Aihole is a former walled city, that was a regional capital under the Chalukya dynasty. The city was at the height of its power and prosperity in the 6th to 8th century CE, when many of its early Hindu temples and shrines were built.

Notable rulers of the Chalukya dynasty include Pulakeshin I, Pulakeshin II, and Vikramaditya I. 

Ideally all three locations need half a day each, minimum. All three places are UNESCO heritage sites and maintained by ASI.

Pattadakal temple complex (10.00 am)

Travelling for around 30 mins from Badami, we reached Pattadakal. Luckily, all the temples are in a single complex. Out of the 6-7 temples (all Shiva), Virupaksha temple and Mallikarjun temple are the most impressive in terms of structure and carving intricacies, both inside and outside. The pictures below are representative and not a catalogue of the temples, which is easily obtained from the net nowadays.

Aihole temples (12.00 noon)

There are 8-9 temples in the temple complex here, the Sri Durga temple being the most famous. Our parliament house is said to be inspired by this temple. Apart from the same, the Lad Khan temple (one Muslim soldier took refuge here), and a few others in the complex are quite famous.

In fact, even a drive through Aihole will show up ancient temples around every bend, coexisting with ramshackle huts. The total numbers may be more than 100. We went to an abandoned (not maintained by ASI) group of around 30 small temples called Galaganatha temples, all Shaivite, that were just growing with the grass in a field.

I feel this group of three temple complexes are worth visiting over two days. Very few of them hold live service now, but that does not prevent people, especially schoolchildren, I was happy to see, from thronging the grounds. Really impressive.

We had lunch at KSTDC Aihole and returned to Badami by 3.30 pm. (Regarding the Kannada-style biriyani, Panna kept saying "It's different"). 

We now need to stock up on our energies for a long long drive to Hyderabad tomorrow.

Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray