Badami Tourism

Located in a valley of rugged red sandstone, surrounding the Agastya Lake, Badami (formerly known as Vatapi) is an archaeological delight owing to its beautifully crafted sandstone cave temples, fortresses and carvings. Once the royal capital of the Chalukyas, Badami continues to enjoy a unique place, being the home to a number of examples of Dravidian architecture which sustains and enhances instances of both south and north Indian style of architecture. Here, the temples cut out of single rocks will fascinate you along with the dense and dynamic beauty of cave temples such as the Brahmanical and Jain cave temples. The city will charm you with the silent imprints that history has left behind and can be seen all around the area.

The Chalukyas who had ruled Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh during 6th and 8th centuries had Badami as their capital. The greatest among the Chalukyas was Pulakeshi II who ruled between 610-642 AD. He defeated many kings and Mahendra Verman I, the Pallava king, was one among them. The state was founded by him in 540 AD. The ancient Chalukyas of Badami are accredited with some of the best customs of Dravidian architecture admitting an observational fuse of older South Indian temple construction and ornamentation and the Nagara mode of North India. This beautiful blend of south and north passed on into the Dravidian temple building pattern.
Badami is the site of the 6th-7th century Brahmanical and Jain cave temples. The temples are cut out of solid rock with elaborate interior decorations that speak volumes of art and architecture of that period. There are 4 cave temples connected with each other with a flight of stairs.