After half a day at Aihole and Pattadakal, we made our way into Badami and had lunch at a one-off restaurant recommended by our guide. A regular meal of bhindi, jawar roti, dahee, rasam, rice and dry sprouted moong was very welcome after all the jeera aloo and dal fry we had been eating so far. We were also offered the special "tourist K-tea"; we made ourselves believe that it indeed was special.
After the meal, we started with the famous Badami caves. The craft with which these caves depicted Shiva, Vishnu and Jaina deities was awe-inspiring. These rock caves, within the red sandstone rock mountains, represent sculptures formed by a process of removal from the rock as opposed to structural temples, which are built.
The Badami caves are a set of 4 caves that were carved between 6th and 8th Century AD. Starting from the present Badami settlement, the caves are found along a path climbing up, starting with cave 1 at the base and ending with cave 4 at the top. The first caves is devoted to Lord Shiva, Cave 2 and 3 are devoted to Lord Vishnu and 4th one to Jain Tirthankars. It was interesting to see the elaborate carvings at the naturally illuminated parts towards the front and since the garbhagriha is sunk deep inside, with limited light reaching inside, the insides of these caves are extremely simple with little or no carvings. With a full sun flaring up in the front, there was hardly any light still and we could smell the presence of bats in all the garbhagrihas.
From what is known, the 1st and 2nd caves came up before the 3rd and 4th. In terms of complexity of design too, the 1st and 2nd, which were relatively easy to access, have simpler design and the latter two would have been made after the proficiency was achieved in simpler and basic rock cut sculpting. The 3rd Vishnu cave is the most ornate amongst all four. It is also the biggest of all, though shallower in depth than the 1st and 2nd caves. Even the 4th Jaina cave is shallow though resembles the 3rd cave in its design and facade. It has the inscription in old Kannada which says that the Chalukya king Mangalesha created a temple of Vishnu which was better than any other temple previously made. This inscription helped in putting the timing of the caves in perspective, at around the end of 6th century.
Agriculture and tourism are the two primary sources of economic product for Badami, which is a taluka under Bagalkot district. For the district itself, agriculture is the largest employer. The drive around the temple circuit of three towns was full of sugarcane, maize, corn and amazing stretches of sunflower plantations. This agriculture is mostly subsistence agriculture other than few bigger farms. The region also seems to have issues with rainfall and irrigation.
Given the proximity to the other UNECO site and the absolute amount of heritage it holds, Badami town seemed disconnected with its tourism potential and with the immense heritage it was surrounded with. Tourism didn’t seem to have much bearing on the local livelihoods. The place has only about 11 ASI certified guides covering the Badami-Pattadakal-Aihole circuit. They are too many for the off-season and too less for the peak season. Even the entrance area of the Badami caves didn't have shops or any attempt whatsoever, of tapping this potential.
The first visual encounter with the Badami range of rocky-mountains will make you realize that it is a rock-climber’s paradise. However the sport is not really popular. With some efforts lately, a rock-climbing center has come up in Badami under the General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure, Karnataka. We are hopeful that the Badami of future will indeed be one of the finest heritage cities of India