Goa to Bangalore

Day 5 - Marching into Hampi

23rd September 2009

Hampi is about 200 kilometres from Badami and covered in about 4-4.5 hours (1600 rupees for a drop) and is about 12 kms from the nearest town of Hospet which has the railway station. Hampi, from Pampa, the old name for the Tungabhadra river which flows through the town is the world’s second biggest heritage site after Rome and has about 200 temple structures strewn across the place with some of them inside homes and in fertile fields.

Representing the height of the Vijaynagara empires in the 16^th century, the temples and the sculptures here have a lot in common with the ones found in Aihole and Pattadakalu. November to March is the peak season with the Hampi festival taking place in January. Inside Hampi town or the bazaar as it is popularly known is a tiny lane with some shops selling curios, cold drinks and trinkets and has some rooftop cafes and guest houses. No vehicles are allowed inside the bazaar, except for dropping and picking up tourists and Hampi is quite well connected with Hospet by bus services which leave every half hour or by local rickshaw (150-500 rupees depending upon your wits). Much of the visiting population in Hampi are foreigners as it is also the bouldering capital of the country with huge boulders strewn around the place and a cursory glance on the menu cards of the main cafes can give you an eerie feeling of reading the same stuff across establishments.

Please book well in advance if you are traveling in the main season or you will have to shack up with some kind soul inside the bazaar for 100-300 rupees a night depending upon the demand (just bedding) or hoof it up from Hospet which has some decent establishments as well as the high end. The Shanthi Guest house (Paul: 9448678729) has some very clean rooms with 200 rupees for the ones without a loo and 350 for the ones with clean bathrooms. Mosquitoes are very liberal from Om Beach to Hampi and please carry generous doses of Odomos along with medicine supplies as Hampi does not have chemist shops. 

Goa to Bangalore

Day 4:  Ahoy Aihole. Hi Pattadakallu


22nd September 2009

Locals say” Aihole was a primary school, Badami the high school and Pattadakallu was a college” when it came to temple architecture. The name Aihole has an interesting history and is associated with the fiery sage Parshuraman who having destroyed the entire Kshatriya race comes to the Malaprabha river which flows through Aihole and washes his bloodstained axe which sends the women screaming in fright “Ai hole” or ( O river). This was an earlier capital of the Chalukya kings and is situated 36 kilometers from Badami. About 125 temples can be found in Aihole most of them strewn around the neighboring villages with only a handful concentrated in some places. An entire day can be spent here and the temples here represent a vast canvas of temple structures that can be found across the country.

 The Parliament Building in New Delhi was a rejected temple model and its poor country cousin can be found here in the Durga complex. Taking a guide here and not relying on your local rickshaw wallah for explaining some of the temples is highly recommended. Most of the guides here, unlike in North India, are not pushy, quite well educated and trained by the ASI. For some sumptuous local fare, please visit Anand Bhuvan opposite the main temple complex rather than the joint recommended by your tourist bus guides.  

Pattadakalu is a World Heritage site and belong to the era of Vikramaditya who ruled in the 8^th century is situated about 22 kilometres from Badami. This was the second capital of the Chalukya kings and the main coronation ceremonies were held here. Each of the temples here are beautifully built and even with the local population living inside the temple complex as recently as 50 years ago, the sculptures are breathtaking.

 Of particular note are the Virupaksha temple, which is a living temple and faced by a huge black Nandi and the Mallikarjuna temple which sports carvings narrating tales from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Panchatantra tales. Badami, Aihole and Pattadakalu can be easily covered over 2 days and apart from these places, there are a few temple tanks, some old temples around Badami of some interest. Alcohol is freely available with numerous wine shops dotting the main street though the food is largely vegetarian with few joints offering non-vegetarian fare.

Goa to Bangalore

21st September 2009

Day 3: On the road to Badami

From Om Beach to Badami is roughly 260 kilometres and passes through some very lush countryside with all kinds of vegetables and grains being cultivated on some very fertile land and animals looking very healthy. You can fix up a cab at any of the small lunch homes or cafes in Gokarn and the journey in an air-conditioned car should cost you 11 rupees.

 On the way: stop at Hotel Sapna (08388-231979) for some delicious Southern breakfast washed down by cups of steaming hot filter coffee. Badami town itself is a one-street town with its main bus station, all hotels, main shops and establishments lining the road. Of all the hotels featured in websites and guidebooks, we found Hotel New Satkar (08357-220417, 09901542194, 09448776317), the cleanest and among the most economical. (rooms available for 300 a night with basic amenities and can go up to a 1000 for AC and TV) Badami gets its name from the ancient name of Vatapi, an old legend and has some of the most beautiful rock carvings in the country. The highlight are the four caves, each of it dedicated to Shiva, two to Vishnu and one to Jainism, the carvings which date back to the 6^th century and built by the Chalukya Kings and highlight the sheer talent of the sculptors in that period. 

 Of particular note are the 18 armed Nataraja, the beautiful carvings of the 5 incarnations of Vishnu dotting the caves, Harihara, Ardh Narishwar, elephants and bulls and the Maha Vishnu carvings in the 3^rd cave. Take guides when visiting the caves (200 rupees) and the caves overlook the beautiful tank with the bhootnath temple on one side (made famous in Mani Ratnam’s Guru). On the opposite side of the caves complex is the remnants of Badami fort with a few watchtowers surviving to this day and a museum at the base of the fort. The entire complex can be covered within 4 hours and all the hotels are situated within 1.5 kilometres of the cave complex.