Badami Chalukya architecture

Sangameshvara temple 725 Pattadakal Cave temple at Badami Karnataka

The Badami Chalukya architecture was a temple

building idiom that evolved in the 5th – 8th centuries in Vedic, Buddhist and Jaina styles. Later they refined their
the Malaprabha river basin, in present-day Bagalkot dis- style and cut out four marvellous cave temples at Badami.
trict of Karnataka state. This style is sometimes called the
Vesara style and Chalukya style. Their earliest temples One noteworthy feature of these cave temples is the run-
date back to around 450 A.D. in Aihole when the Badami ning frieze of Ganas in various amusing postures caved
Chalukyas were vassals of the Kadambas of Banavasi. in relief on each plinth.
According to historian K.V. Sounder Rajan, the Badami The outside verandas of the cave temples are rather plain,
Chalukyas contribution to temple building matched their but the inner hall contains rich and prolific sculptural
valor and their achievements in battle. symbolism. Art critic Dr. M. Sheshadri wrote of the
Chalukya art that they cut rock like Titans but finished
like jewellers. Critic Zimmer wrote that the Chalukya
1 Chalukya architecture history cave temples are a fine balance of versatility and restrain.
The finest structural temples are located in Pattadakal. Of
During 450, the Chalukya style originated in Aihole and the ten temples in Pattadakal, six are in Dravidian style
was perfected in Badami and Pattadakal.[1] The Chalukya and four in Rekhanagara style. The Virupaksha temple in
artists experimented with different styles, blended the many ways holds resemblance to the Kailasanatha temple
Indo-Aryan Nagara and Dravidian styles, and evolved in Kanchipuram which came into existence a few years
Chalukya style.[2] earlier.
Their style includes two types of monuments. This is a fully inclusive temple, it has a central struc-
ture, nandi pavilion in front and has a walled enclosure
• The rock cut halls (caves) that is entered by a gateway. The main sanctum has a
Pradakshinapatha and mantapa. The mantapa is pillared
• Structural temples
and has perforated windows (pierced window screens).
The external wall surface is divided by pilasters into well-
spaced ornamental niches filled with either sculptures or
2 Badami cave temples perforated windows. Art critic Percy Brown says about
the sculptures that they flow into the architecture in a con-
Badami cave temples have rock cut halls with three basic tinuous stream. It is said that the Virupaskha temple is
features: pillared veranda, columned hall and a sanctum one of those monuments where the spirit of the men who
cut out deep into rock. built it, still lives.
Early experiments in rock cut halls were attempted in Many centuries later, the serene art of the Badami
Aihole where they built three cave temples, one each in Chalukya reappeared in the pillared architecture of the

1
2 2 BADAMI CAVE TEMPLES

Vijayanagar Empire. Their caves include finely engraved • Jain Narayana Temple (Rashtrakuta)
sculptures of Harihara, Trivikrama, Mahisa Mardhini,
Tandavamurthi, Paravasudeva, Nataraja, Varaha, Go- • Papanatha Temple
mateshvara and others. Plenty of animal and foliage mo- • Museum of the Plains and Sculpture gallery
tifs are also included.
Some important sculptors of their time were Gundan Ani- • Naganatha Temple
varitachari, Revadi Ovajja and Narasobba. • Chandrashekara

• Mahakuteshwara Temple
2.1 Important Badami Chalukya temples

Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal

Jain tirthankara Parshvanath, cave No. 4, Badami cave temples

Aihole

• Lad Khan Temple

• Huchiappayyagudi Temple
Ravana Phadi cave, Aihole • Huchiappayya math

Pattadakal • Durga Temple

• Meguti Jain Temple

• Virupaksha Temple
• Ravanaphadi Temple
• Sangameswarar Temple
• Gowda Temple
• Kashivisvanatha Temple (Rashtrakuta)
• Museum & Art Gallery
• Mallikarjuna Temple
• Suryanarayana Temple
• Galganatha Temple
Badami
• Kadasiddeshvara Temple

• Jambulinga Temple • Cave 1 (Shiva)

 3

• Cave 2 (Vishnu as Trivikrama or Vamana, Varaha

and Krishna)
• Cave 3 (Vishnu as Narasimha, Varaha, Harihara and
Trivikrama.)
• Cave 4 (Jain Tirthankara Parsvanatha)

• Bhutanatha group of temples (Badami and Kalyani

Chalukya)

Gerusoppa

• Vardhamanaswamy Temple

Alampur, Andhra Pradesh

• Navabrahma temples

3 References
[1] “Echoes from Chalukya caves”. Retrieved 2009-04-01.

[2] “Architecture, The Chalukyan magnificence”. Archived

from the original on 10 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-
01.

4 Notes
• Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South
India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar,
OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002).

• Dr. Suryanath U. Kamat (2001). Concise History

of Karnataka, MCC, Bangalore (Reprinted 2002).
• History Of Karnataka, Mr. Arthikaje © 1998-00
OurKarnataka.com

5 External
• Official site of Bagalkot District

• Karnataka Tourism Guide

• Karnataka Hotels

• Tourism of India
• Temples of Karnataka, Dr. Jyotsna Kamat
4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1 Text
• Badami Chalukya architecture Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badami_Chalukya_architecture?oldid=676076121 Contributors:
Art LaPella, Woohookitty, SmackBot, Bradtcordeiro, Hmains, Bluebot, Colonies Chris, Dineshkannambadi, Shyamsunder, KNM, Cydebot,
Mattisse, Nick Number, Erechtheus, Dr. Blofeld, Ekabhishek, The Transhumanist, GurchBot, CommonsDelinker, Bovineboy2008, Roland
zh, Steven Crossin, Srirangam99, Manjunath Doddamani Gajendragad, Vishnava, Yobot, Tangopaso, Materialscientist, LilHelpa, J04n,
DrilBot, DASHBot, John of Reading, BrokenAnchorBot, Vin09, ChrisGualtieri, Hmainsbot1, Pied Hornbill, Alan, Satyasrinivasraj and
Anonymous: 15

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