Badami cave temples, Cave temples complex in Karnataka, India
Badami cave temples is a set of four cave temples carved into the red sandstone cliffs above Agastya Lake in Karnataka. The caves sit one above the other along the cliff wall and hold religious stone reliefs and columns with elaborate carvings.
The Chalukya dynasty commissioned the temples between the sixth and eighth centuries when Badami served as their capital under the name Vatapi. The third cave carries an inscription from the year 578 marking the reign of King Mangalesha.
The first cave belongs to Shiva and shows the god as Nataraja dancing with eighteen arms. The fourth cave follows Jain traditions and displays the twenty-four Tirthankaras carved along its walls, including Mahavira holding lotus flowers.
Stone steps lead from below up the cliff wall to the entrances of each cave, with paths becoming narrow and steep in places. Visit early in the morning or late afternoon to avoid heat and to catch better light on the reliefs.
A fifth cave temple was found in 2015 roughly five hundred meters (1,600 feet) from the main complex and holds twenty-seven Hindu depictions. The second cave shows Vishnu as Varaha rescuing the earth goddess Bhudevi on his tusk, a rare carving of this legend in rock.
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