Voyage 361

Bagalkot Heritage Drive - Day 2 – Badami Group of Temples By 5.45 pm we left the Badami caves & started towards the Museum which was on the opposite side of the caves, it is around 1.5 km for us, but as per Google maps it is around 1km. Though it is only about half a km from the caves but there are no proper roads to reach here, Government has failed a bit here in claiming some land & protecting the road to these places, we had to struggle a lot to make way for our Innova, as the road is so narrow that even if there is another vehicle on the other side one of us must have to reverse the car back to the road, but luckily no other vehicle came in the opposite direction till we reached the fort gate. Also there are a few temples which reside inside the town with all the houses in the town surrounding the temples which has a history of over 1500yrs. I felt there should be a protected area around the temple at least to protect it from being encroached. Due to the roads bei

Bagalkot Heritage Drive - Day 2 – Badami Cave Temples (3 & 4) Badami Cave 3: Most beautiful view of entire Chalukyan architecture Vishnu cave temple Probably the oldest of the 4 caves, dedicated to Vishnu, is the largest of the series and was excavated, according to its inscription, in Saka 500, i.e. A.D. 578, by Mangalesa. The cave facade is divided by six squared-off columns, beneath which is a frieze of dwarves. The dwarves are presented in small groupings, unlike the continuous frieze on Cave 1. Vishnu: The eight-armed deity wears a tall crown, and carries numerous weapons (including bow, middle left arm, and arrow, middle right arm) in addition to his usual shell (upper left arm) and chakra (upper right arm). His lower right arm holds the hilt of a sword, which is broken in the middle. The upper part of the blade extends past the right side of his face. The god's martial aspect is appropriate to the royal dedication of this cave. Vishnu Har