Bijapur-Badami-Aihole-Pattadakal

Team members : Ankur, Bota, Rajdip and Somnath
Photography : Rajdip and Bota

Travel info:
Bijapur is located ~550 Km. northwest of Bangalore. It served as the capital of Adil Shahi dynasty from 1500 to 1686. The city is connected to Bangalore both by rail (~17 hrs) and road (may take a couple of hours less, but nothing compared to the comfort of the train journey). The city is famous for many historical monuments built during Adil Sahi dynasty.
Badami was the capital of Badami Chalukyas (550 to 750 AD). Situated 128 Km south of Bijapur and famous for it's cave temples, Badami can be reached from Bijapur by road via either Bagalkot or Kerur. Aihole and Pattadakal is further 50 Km away from Badami and popular for rock cut temples. Avail local bus service from Badami or hire auto/taxi. There is no place for overnight stay at Aihole/Pattadakal but decent hotels are available at Badami. While coming back to Bangalore, you can take a bus to Gadag(~100 Km) and from there board the train (Hampi express, around 6 pm) to Bangalore.
I guess the best time to visit is from November to January. We went there in the middle of March and it was hot like hell.

We start from Bangalore (Day 1):
Basava express departed from Yesvantpur around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. There was hardly any catering service available during the journey. Anticipating this beforehand, we boarded the train with plenty of foods and drinking water. Soon we were out of the city limits and passing through a vast vacant rocky terrain, dotted with intermittent hills. In the fading light of the setting sun, the surroundings wore a beautiful look. A veil of darkness covered the surroundings soon. After playing cards for some time and having dinner, we retired rather early. Next day as the train left Gulbarga at the dawn, a little drama unfolded right before us. The compartment was almost empty by then, as most of the passengers got down at Gulbarga. A ticket collector got hold of three suspected snatchers. As usual there were no security personnel on board – they are as rare as water in the middle of a desert. All the three were very strongly build and they tried to prove their innocence for few moments. Then two of them ran away. Being cornered, the third one became aggressive and started abusing and threatening his captor with dire consequences. We were in a fix-what to do if the goon tries to assault the ticket collector. To our great relief, the train slowed down for some reason and the captive managed to break free and jump out of the train. We were too agitated to sleep further.

We reach Bijapur and hire a tonga for the day (Day 2):
Luck favoures the cautious! We managed to reach Bijapur safely and on time (9.30 morning). We were soon surrounded by auto wallahs and tonga wallahs, trying to impress us with tourist information booklets. Tonag was the automatic choice – travel in a nawabi style and of course it can accommodate four persons 100 times more comfortably than auto. A big surprise was due for us. Soon after coming out of the station complex, we were thrilled at the sight of Gol Gumbaz. With clear blue March sky at the background, it was a spectacular sight. The tonga wallah drove us to a hotel not too far from the gigantic monument and we checked in to refresh.

History in a nutshell:
From the middle of 14^th century to the end of 15^th century Hindu kingdom Vijaynagar and Bahamani sultanate were the two most powerful states of Decan. In the first quarter of 16^th century, Bahamani sultanate broke up into Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmednagar and Bidar, Bijapur being the most powerful. They were engaged in many battles among themselves and with Vijaynagar. In the year 1565 the sultans joined hands and defeated Vijaynagar in the battle of Talikota. In next 80 odd years Bijapur grew in size and prosperity, followed by cultural development. The downfall started with the revolt of Shivaji, whose father was the Maratha commander of Bijapur sultans. Severely weakened by Maratha attacks, Bijapur had to contend with Mughal invasions in the last quarter of century. Finally in the year 1686, Mughal armies under Aurangzeb conquered Bijapur.
Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijapur_Sultanate for more information.

Bijapur – places of interest (in the order we visited):
Bijapur is famous for islamic architecture, mainly places of worship and mausoleums. Some of the buildings serve as government office at present. At it's pinnacle the city was protected by three great walls. You can still see the remains of them as you travel through the city. Other than the ticketed monuments-Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Rauza, most of the places are not well maintained. Interiors of the gigantic buildings were amazingly cool than compared to the scorching heat outside and this attracted scores of vagabonds to enjoy cool comfort free of cost.

Jumma masjid – The mosque, claimed to be the largest in south India (by the caretaker), was built by Ali Adil Shah in the year 1565. There are holy inscriptions from Quaran in gold on the wall of the mosque. But the place is not very well maintained and full of encroachers.

Chand Bawdi – a huge tank that served as water resource during the days of sultans. This was built during the reign of Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580-1626).

Jod Gumbaz – A place of warship, consisting of twin structures as the name suggest. This is actually tomb of two noble men. Again very dirty and crowded place.

Ibrahim Rauza – This is a real beauty, constructed by Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580-1626) as a mausoleum for his queen Taj Sultana. But the sultan was the first to die and was buried inside. His wife, sons and daughter followed later.

Malik-e-Maidan – A huge cannon, brought back from Ahmadnagar as a trophy of war. This giant had sealed the fate of many battles, including the famous one at Talikota (1565). It is said that the cannon remains cool even in scorching sun and sounds like a bell when tapped. But we could not feel it because ASI has barricaded the area after several ugly inscriptions of X loves Y on it's surface. Poor fellow – dreaded by enemy and protector of the city in many battles could not protect itself from the side effect of romance !

Upri buruj – This tall structure served as a watch tower safeguarding the capital. We got a nice panoramic view of the city from the top. There are two big cannons at the top.

Barakaman – The incomplete mausoleum of Ali Adil Shah II. Started during the fag end of the Bijapur sultanate, the king died before the structure was complete.

Gol Gumbaz – The most famous monument of Bijapur. The gigantic dome is the tomb of Mohammed Adil Shah (1627-57). I have uploaded one picture (middle below) to give you a feeling of it's hugeness. The picture was take from the ground and the black dots are the people at the top! We took the narrow stairs to go all the way to the top. I really wonder how the sultans, presumably of big physique, managed to climb through such narrow staircase. There is a whispering gallery at the top and people were screaming like wild animals. Stand next to the small railings and look down – you can see the tombs, reduced to the size of the match boxes. It's a bit scary to stand near a small railing and look down from that height. Once outside, we got a fantastic view of the whole city from the top for the second time in a day. There is a small museum located in the building in front of the Gumbaz. There are several items, like sculptures, weapons of the old time, portraits of sultans, potteries, old maps of the city etc. I still vividly remember a chain made of stones! By the time we came out of Gol Gumbaz complex, it was almost evening and day 2 of our journey ended in a happy note.

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijapur,_Karnataka for more information.

Bijapur to Badami – the bumpy ride (Day 3) :
We started very early in the morning (~ 5.30 am). After reaching the bus stand, we found that there is no direct bus from Bijapur to Badami. We have to either go via Bagalkot or Kerur. A bus was about to depart for Kerur and we boarded it. It took some time for the bus to hit the highway. And then the hell broke loose. The highway was not very smooth all along. But it hardly bothered the driver. Rarely releasing the accelerator, he maintained the breakneck speed. Frequently he drove the bus down the bumpy ground beside the road to avoid speed breakers. With violent jerks, the bus moved ahead in a single piece! It was time for the sunrise and a very rare occasion in the life of city dwellers like me, who are late risers and hardly have the luxury to have an unobstructed vista up to the horizon. There were several sunflower plantations at both sides of the road. It is time for the flowers to wake up, open their eyes, face the Sun and say “hello and welcome” to a new day. After 3 hrs of ordeal we reached Kerur. A bus was leaving for Badami and we were into another mess (of different kind) in no time. It was a local country bus - packed with human, poultry, milk cans, sackful of grains, haystacks, bundle of clothes and miscellaneous. We managed to find some free space adjacent to the drivers cabin. It was roughly an hours journey through the country side. Gradually the landscape changed - roofed houses, sign boards advertising hotels, post office building – heralding our destination (to our delight!)

We reach Badami(Day 3) :
The trauma came to an end. Relived, we came out of bus stand and lodged in a hotel adjacent to the bus stand. By the time we were ready for the days trip, it was already 11 am. Quickly we gathered the following informations from the locals. Cave temples of Badami are situated at a walking distance from the bus stand. Reluctant to walk - take an auto/tonga. Pattadakkal is situated 25 Km away from Badami and Aihole is further 25 Km from Pattadakkal. You can either travel by local bus from Badami or hire an auto/taxi (more convenient). We decided to visit Aihole/Pattadakkal first, jostled into an auto and headed straight to our destination.

History in a nutshell:
Badami was the capital of Chalukyas (~550-750 AD), founded by Pualkesi I. Around 642 AD, for a brief period of 10 -12 years Pallavas captured it. Chalukyas soon delivered a fitting reply by not only driving Pallavas back, but also seizing their capital Kanchipuram. Later Badami fell into the hads of Rastrakutas (~750-975 AD). Chalukyas of Kalyani defeated them and ruled for next 200 years. They were followed by Hoysalas(~1200-1350 AD), Vijayanagar empire (~1350-1560 AD), Adil Sahis (~1560-1686 AD), Marathas and Hyder Ali before falling into the hands of the British. Badami along with Aihole and Pattadakkal are famous for cave temples and rock cut temples built by Chalukyas mostly during 6^th to 8^th century AD.

“Aihole is considered a School of Architecture, Badami a Degree College, and The University of architecture is Pattadakal.” - Wikipedia

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badami for more information.

To be contd ..................