LIVING RUINS OF THE CHALUKYAN EMPIRE...

...North karnataka had been the flourishing region  during the CHALUKYAN PERIOD. The prominent towns of AIHOLE,  PATTADUKAL, BADAMI  AND HAMPI are all UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES. ..

Aihole  was a prominent city and temple complex serving as training site for the would be sculptors  during that era.....those sculptors  then would exhibit their genius at PATTADUKAL. ...The Durga temple of Aihole  in red sandstone is a must visit ...the sculptures  inside the temple complex can make any visitor awestruck. ...it also houses a small museum of sculptures on red sandstone  of that era....
After visiting Aihole,  the drive of one and half hours to Pattadukal, thru the remote villages and forests bordered by Red sandstone  hills is quite refreshing...

PATTADUKAL, a tiny village on the bank of Mala prabha  river, was the coronation  site of the CHALUKYAN  Rulers and is located right in the middle  of wilderness  in Bagalkot  district.  Dravidian  and Nagara  are the prevalent  style of architecture  here. The most prominent  of the buildings  within the complex are Virupaksha, Sangameshwara , kashi  Viswanath and mallikarjuna  temples.....
Very well preserved  complex to cherish the architectural  marvels of the by gone era.....
BADAMI CAVES are 22kms from Pattadukal ......Badami is named after the Red Sandstone that covers the terrain and earlier known as Vatapi. The Badami  chalukyas  ruled here from 540 to 757AD. .
Badami Caves  are really very beautiful  but the steps to the top is very steep. The Agastya  tirtha  named after sage Agastya  with red sandstone out cropped surrounding it on 3 sides.The lake is flanked by wonderfully  sculptured cave temples on one side and Bhutnath  temple on the other.
At Badami Caves  , there r 4 caves....Cave 1 is dedicated to lord Shiva,Cave 2 &3 for lord Vishnu  and Cave 4 is dedicated to Jain tirthankas. ..

HAMPI ,  though is bit far away from the above  places but it's truely a must visit location .....it has grown prominence  in recent times due to foreign tourists frequenting this World of Granite....It's located on the  bank of Tungabhadra river..it houses the famous Virupaksha temple ,  Vitthala temple with the musical pillars, pushkarani  are prominent  landmarks of works on granite rocks...
The stone Chariot of Vitthala temple captures the splendors of architecture of that period....
       It's truely  a world heritage to be visited ....I just loved  it all ......minimum 3/4 days are required to enjoy all these places at a go but surely worth spending time here.