{"id":6712,"date":"2023-02-24T13:13:02","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T13:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalwanderings.co.uk\/new\/?p=6712"},"modified":"2025-01-27T14:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T14:18:14","slug":"badami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalwanderings.co.uk\/new\/2023\/02\/24\/badami\/","title":{"rendered":"Badami"},"content":{"rendered":"

My previous post starts with the problem of getting a bus from Bidar to Bijapur and the fickleness of non existent timetables. this post will be no different. the previous day I’d been told there was a bus from Bijapur to Badami at 6.45am. Arriving at the station at the appointed time I was then told there was no direct bus but I had to get the 6.45 bus to Kerur and change there. That would arrive at platform 4. To cut a long story short I was then directed to a bus that was leaving the station (at 6.20) and clambered aboard. The bloke sat next to me confirmed we were off to Kerur, he then started with the oft repeated refrain, “What is your country?”. I replied the Isle of Man and was then rather surprised when he whipped out his phone, asked me to type in the IOM and we then proceeded to watch Youtube videos about the Isle of Man in Hindi. It passed the time. At Kerur, the bus to Badami was waiting for me, so it was soon off again to my final destination and I duly arrived in Badami at 9.15.<\/p>\n

the receptionist at the Hotel Mayuri Adil Shah in Bijapur had managed to book me into the sister government hotel in Badami – the Hotel Mayura Chalukya and it was equally pleasant. Unfortunately they didn’t have my favourite Indian breakfast, Aloo paratha and curd, but they could make me an egg sandwich which wasn’t too bad.<\/p>\n

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The hotel was a bit more welcoming on the inside!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a freshen up, I was out to see the highlight of Badami – the Badami Caves<\/a>, carved in the 6th century onwards by the Chalukyan Dynasty. Normally I get to monuments first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds and there were quite a few local tourists when I got there but they soon left and once again I was by myself to explore these amazing caves. Although carved almost 1500 years ago I had never seen such high quality carving. They were truly amazing and far better than I had anticipated.<\/p>\n

Cave 1. Although cave 1 is the smallest, it was immediately clear how much rock had to be excavated to make these temples. This was the oldest and carved in the 6th century and dedicated to Shiva.<\/p>\n

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Cave 2 was similar but dedicated to Vishnu. It fronted onto a large terrace with great views over the town and lake.<\/p>\n

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Cave 3 is the largest and most impressive with some superb relief carving not only on the walls but also the the ceiling and column brackets.<\/p>\n

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Cave 4 is smaller and more recent than the other caves and very different. It is a Jain shrine and has dozens of carvings of Jain figures.<\/p>\n

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All over the site was a troupe of macaques but, rather unusually in my experience they were actually well behaved one of them posing for photographs with some women.<\/p>\n

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Badami town from the caves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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