Voyage 361

Bagalkot Heritage Drive - Day 2 – Shri Badami Banashankari Temple Shri Badami Banashankari Temple is around 18km from Pattadakal & we reached there by 3pm & had darshana & spent some time near the beautiful water tank in front of the temple. The original temple was built by the 7th century Kalyani Chalukya kings, who worshipped goddess Banashankari as their tutelary deity. The present refurbished temple was built in 1750, by Parusharam Agale, a Maratha chieftain. There is a 360 ft (109.7 m) square water tank in the forefront of the temple at the entrance, called as Harishchandra Tirtha. The pond is enclosed with stone mantapas (halls) on three sides. A pradakshina or circumambulatory path surrounds the tank. Lamp towers (Deepa stambhas) are seen in the foreground of the temple on the west bank of the pond & also at the entrance. The tower on the bank of the tank is also an uncommon guard tower which is "reflects the Vijayanagar...

Bagalkot Heritage Drive - Day 2 – Pattadakal Papanatha Temple Papanatha temple view from behind After Virupaksha temple we just felt as if it was the last in the Pattadakal temple complex, as the guide went after this taking his fee of Rs200. But I wasn't filled my mind so wanted to explore more, none of them from my group of eight joined me so I went alone to explore beyond the Nandi mandapa in front of the Virupaksha temple, as there is Mallaprabha River flowing just after the temple. Went down to see the river & was not much impressed to see the river being in bad condition as any other river in India, people washing cloths & bathing. So didn't feel like to go down the steps to the water, so straight away went on the other side of the banks of the river & was surprised to see a lawn after the compound wall of the Pattadakal temple complex, & decided to see what it is & stopped right away to see a small road in-between the two com...

Bagalkot Heritage Drive - Day 2 – Pattadakal Virupaksha Temple We then went to Lokeshwar/ Virupaksha Temple which is the most magnificent temple of the Chalukyan style built by Lokamahadevi, the Queen of Vikramaditya II in 740 A.D. in commemoration of his victory over the Pallavas of Kanchi. The architects of Pallava country built this temple; Anivarita Gunda was the chief architect. In fact this temple is believed to have been a model for the Kailasa temple at Ellora. The temple is quite big with an area of 224ft & 105ft in length & breadth respectively. The temple consists of a garbhagriha, pradakshinapatha, mahamandapa, mukhamandapa & separate Nandi mandapa in front of the temple. The garbhagriha has a Dravidian type Shikhara of three tiers. The square garbhagriha has a highly polished Sivalinga on a square panipitha. Virupaksha Temple The most important part of the temple is the 18 pillars in 4 rows at the spacious mukhamandapa. They contain fine scul...