June 26.
The iconography was very similar to that in the caves at Ellora. The outstanding sculptures set against the walls were the 18 armed Nataraja (said to be unique), Varaha lifting up the earth, Vijayanarasimha, Vishnu in a seated pose (also unusual). Added bonus was to see traces of painting on the walls (detectable by us only after taking a photo of it) and inscriptions in old Kannada script. Cave 1 was dedicated to Shiva, 2 and 3 to Vishnu, and 4 was a Jain temple, all patronised by the Chalukyas. Though cave 3 was the biggest and had the most carving, I felt that the ones in cave 1 were better, with a more delicate touch.
Our guide, Raju Kalmat, has been doing this job for 25 years. He would have made a good teacher. One always thinks that one can do without a guide in these places, and certainly there is enough to gaze and wonder at by oneself. But it's the smaller details that only they can point out.
After lunch at one of the innumerable Lingayat Khanavalis dotting the main road, we revisited the site. On the other side of the lake was the Bhoothnath temple. A very pleasing structure and the setting on the quiet side of the lake was beautiful. Ended by visiting the small museum. Located in a small building made to blend with the surroundings. Someone had some sense when they designed it.
the well preserved Durga temple with its unusual oval shape at the back; the Meghuti hill fort and Jain temple mainly for its location with stunning views all around; and the Ravanphadi cave temple with its beautiful dancing Shiva. Aihole seems to be some centre for ox carts. At the base of Meghuti hill, we had to park our car in the midst of a good number of oxen, buffaloes and carts. In Chalukya times, it was known as a prosperous commercial centre. Hard to believe now.
One thing we have noticed is that the carvings in structural temples like these were in much poorer shape than those in the cave temples. The real interest of the Pattadakkal temples was less in the carvings than in seeing so many temples of different styles in one place.
June 30.
The one black spot. A senseless 'no contact' entrance system, in which you have to scan a QR code, enter a whole lot of unnecessary details such as the number of your ID card, nationality etc, and pay Rs 20 per person online. Obviously, there would be many glitches in the process. This resulted in crowds of people gathering around the lone security guard who could help them, and much delayed entrance. And all this to enter an ancient fort in an out of the way town, with no valuables in it! Getting into Parliament is probably easier. Since we had never seen something like this in any other site we have visited, I assume it's some hare-brained scheme being tested out on a pilot basis. A great way to discourage tourism.
Adding photos was a later idea. I realised that one rarely looks later at photos in one's mobile phone, and figured how to transfer the most interesting ones to my computer via email. Once they were on my laptop, it took only a little more figuring out to insert them into the diary.
The other theme was the Chalukyas. From the little Chandramouleshwara temple in Hubbali to the Chitradurga fort, they were ever present. I had of course heard about the Chalukyas in passing in my Ancient Indian History class, but knew little about them beyond the name. Travel opens up the mind, and also helps to give a more concrete form to the past.
We decided to walk to the sites and back both in the morning and afternoon, as the distance was less than two kilometres. Saw a bit of the local life which goes on pretty much like in any small town, almost totally unconnected with the amazing monuments just next door. Pigs and monkeys were everywhere. Have never seen so many pigs running around in any place I have been to. Why? The monkeys were busy pelting stones at people from the rocks above the caves. Small settlements co-exist cheek by jowl with the monuments, with people washing their clothes in the beautiful Agastya lake and draping their wash on the rocks and fences. I noticed that practically all the houses were pucca and the lanes concrete. But grubbiness and garbage everywhere.
We were exceptionally lucky to have cool, breezy, cloudy weather which allowed us to spend the whole afternoon walking around and sitting at the lakeside.
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| Agastya Lake and North Hill |
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| Bhoothnath Temple |
June 27.
Today was the day for Aihole, about 40 kms from Badami. Called the cradle of South Indian temple architecture because of the number of temples dotting the small area (about 150), and also the experimentation with different styles. The Dravidian, with storied pyramidal roofs, the curved roofs of the north Indian Nagara style, and a style unique to the area with sloping roof tiles interspersed with log-like projections. We went from one site to another.
The following were memorable for me:
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| The Durga Temple |
Our plan was to explore the North Hill back at Badami in the evening. But by the time we woke up from an exhausted siesta and got over there, we only had time to see the lower Shivalaya temple, although we got a splendid view of the town below from there. Kannan was very disappointed we couldn't go higher. Access to the North Hill is not easy. Even autos can barely make it through the narrow lanes of the adjacent settlement full of pigs, dogs and little children playing.
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| Jain Temple on Meghuti hill |
June 28.
Yesterday evening we made a spur of the moment decision to head next towards Gokarna on the coast, in order to avoid reaching Bangalore before Padma's guests leave our house. Both of us felt that we had reached a saturation point with historical sites, and wanted a different experience.
But first we had to complete the trinity which we had come to see. So by 6.30 am we were on our way to Pattadakal, about 15 Kms away.
Unlike Aihole, the Pattadakal temples are all grouped together. This made it much easier to see. In those times, it must have been a busy place, with so many places of worship. The main point of interest in viewing these temples was seeing those in the southern Dravidian style and the northern Nagara style literally rubbing shoulders with each other. It also has a living temple, Virupaksha, where local people were busy with their daily worship. Its twin temple, Mallikarjuna, was just a monument.
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| The Arabian Sea at Gokarna |
Packed up and left Mayura Chalukya around 10 am. We found it to be a spacious and comfortable, though not swank, place to be, with friendly people, right from the office staff to the waiters and cleaners. No airs.
On the drive to Gokarna, passed through fertile fields, followed by teak forests and then the ghat. Descended quite fast to see the sun coming down over the vast expanse of the sea just before we drove into Paradise Holiday Resort. Were greeted by a pleasant manager Suraj Padiyar and several friendly local dogs.
June 29.
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| The lawns of the Mayura, Chitradurga |
Rain, rain, rain. Throughout last night from 7 pm onwards. Continued with barely a few minutes break into the morning. Our plans of early morning scrambling down to the beach, or spending another day in this pleasant spot, all went up in smoke -- or rather, dissolved in the deluge. We booked the Mayura hotel in Chitradurga halfway to Bangalore, and left quickly after breakfast. Maybe we can come back here again in better weather.
Arrived around 5 pm in dry and sunny Chitradurga. It now feels comforting to come to a state run Mayura hotel. You know what to expect, and the locations are great. This one is located just opposite the fort, so we plan to visit it early morning before we leave. The broad road dividing the hotel from the fort has very little vehicular traffic and is used by local people as a promenade. It was nice to take a leisurely walk up and down this road and watch the citizenry stroll around, chat with each other or sit on the benches. People seemed quite friendly, going out of their way to ask us where we were from and suggesting places to see. A long quiet evening after that sitting on our room porch and enjoying the pleasantly cool air outside, while watching the sun set behind the fort.
Our last visit on this trip was the real surprise. We never expected the Chitradurga fort to be so captivating. Easily rivals many of the better known forts in the North in size, points of interest, historical colour and jaw-dropping scenery. Especially noteworthy were: the temple to the rakshasa king Hidimbeshwar; the many 'honda' (tanks) which ensured that the population inside never ran out of water; the tall stone swing posts; and the Okave Obavva Kindi. This was the small hole in the rocks through which Tipu Sultan's soldiers tried to sneak into the fort, only to be smartly rapped on the head one by one by a vigilant woman with her okave (mallet), until she herself was killed. Tipu eventually took the fort, only for it to be later taken by the British. Initially constructed by the later Chalukyas in the 11th to 13th centuries, the fort was later occupied by the Nayakas and even the Vijayanagara empire. A whole lot of history there.
Getting back into Bangalore was smoother than expected, mainly because it was in the off rush hour period (if there is such a thing in Bangalore). We decided to end the trip in a holiday manner by grabbing paninis for lunch at a place just 5 minutes before home.
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I started these daily jottings because I found that I remembered very few details of past trips we had done. I remembered the big picture and there were some snapshot memories of those earlier trips, but not enough remained in my memory. At my age, the capacity to remember details is bound to be even less! I set myself the not too ambitious goal of jotting down just a couple of paras a day on my mobile phone.
I began with the idea of just recording names of places and people, and some historical events and dates. However, the experience of the trip couldn't be confined to this, and stray thoughts and observations worked their way in.
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| Monsoon skies over Chitradurga fort |
Looking again at the photos, I could see that a dominant theme was the monsoon, and especially the monsoon skies. What dramatic and eye-catching skyscapes there were! One may have been trying to get a picture of a monument, but in looking at the photo one could see that nature easily rivalled the man-made construction.
This was a journey through a part of India which was not very familiar to us, despite being not too far. That added to the charm. Living in Bangalore, and earlier Delhi, one tends to be a little metro-centric. This is after all a land of small towns and villages. I don't want to romanticise life in these places, but it is good to come out of the confines of gated colonies in the cities.
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