Badami
| Badami ಬದಾಮಿ |
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| State : |
 India
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| State : | Karnataka | ||
| District : | Bagalkot | ||
| Sub-district : | Badami | ||
| Location : | 15 ° 55 ' N , 75 ° 41' E | ||
| Height : | 565 m | ||
| Area : | 5.55 km² | ||
| Residents : | 30,943 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 5575 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Website : | Badami | ||
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Badami ( Kannada : ಬದಾಮಿ Badāmi ) is a town ( Town Municipal Council ) with a population of around 35,000 in the Bagalkot district in the Indian state of Karnataka .
location
Badami is located in the northern part of the Dekkan Plateau at an altitude of approx. 565 m above sea level. d. M. The nearest major cities are Bijapur (approx. 125 km drive north), Gadag (approx. 60 km south) or Belgaum (approx. 155 km west). The climate is sometimes subtropical and warm; Rain actually only falls in the summer monsoon months .
population
Official population statistics have only been kept and published since 1991.
| year | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 |
| Residents | 19,982 | 25,847 | 30,943 |
Just under 77% of the majority of the Marathi , Kannada and Urdu- speaking population are Hindus and around 20.5% are Muslims ; the other religious communities form numerically small minorities. The male population is only slightly higher than the female.
economy
The rather rural-looking place has seen a significant boom since the last decades of the 20th century thanks to tourism.
history
As documented in an inscription, Badami was founded in 543 by the first great ruler of the western Chalukya, Pulakeshin I , as the capital of the Chalukyas under the name Vatapi . A hundred years later, i. H. of about 641 to 654, the city was after its conquest by Narasimhavarman I. under the reign of Pallava . Badami was ruled during this time by Vikramaditya I. After the Chalukya were able to recapture Badami, the city was conquered by the Rashtrakuta by Dantidurga in 753/754 , who ruled Vatapi until around 973. Only then did the Chalukya find their way back to Badami.
Attractions
Especially in the early Chalukya rule, many temples and caves were created to worship gods. Pulakeshin I and Mangalesha are two well-known rulers who owe some of the facilities, such as Badami Cave III . The style of the caves and temples provides information about the development of art and about political contacts and influences in other regions. This also applies to the artistic effects of the occupation of Badami by the Pallava and Rashtrakuta in southern India.
Some of the inscriptions on the buildings contain information about the builders of the facilities - for example at Cave III in Badami. In the Malegitti Shivalaya Temple, too, an inscription was placed on the east wall, although it can no longer be clearly deciphered; in the Jambulinga Temple, which was built by Vijayaditya and is to the west of Badami, there is another on a lintel. The inscriptions contain information about the history of Badami as well as the time when the structures were built.
The type and number of buildings that have been preserved suggests a wealthy people. The remains of the city walls also indicate the size of the city of Vatapi, as Badami was called in the Middle Ages. The temples, however, provide the greatest information about religion, people's lives and their rituals.
Nordberg
On the north mountain or on its flanks there is a cave temple from the 6th century and several free-standing temples from the 7th century with clear influences of the South Indian Dravida style .
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- Lower Shivalaya Temple (approx. 650)
Of this temple - standing on a terrace on the mountain flank - without a platform or pronounced base zone, only the sanctum with a remarkable tower structure in the South Indian Dravida style has been preserved. The multi-storey tower ends in a central octagonal main 'dome' with four smaller accompanying pavilions - a constellation that is based on the model of the Malegitti Shivalaya temple, which is only a few years older and whose repertoire of forms is largely based on two of the five Ratha shrines in the South Indian mamallapuram can be traced back. Despite the massive stones and slabs used, the building makes a thoroughly elegant impression due to its multiple structure in its overall appearance. The former vestibule ( mandapa ), which rests on slim octagonal pillars and originally had a flat roof, has only survived in fragments, but makes a lighter impression than the vestibule of the Malegitti Shivalaya temple. The portal wall is multi-tiered, but has little ornamental or figural decoration. Inside the temple there is a round stone setting - probably a kind of yoni ; however, the associated lingam has disappeared.
- Upper Shivalaya Temple (approx. 630)
Only parts of the upper Shivalaya temple on the castle hill have been preserved - the vestibule closed at the side has been largely destroyed. After all, he stands on a platform that compensates for the sloping terrain level and at the same time protects the temple from flooding and free-roaming animals. The roof structure above the sanctum is less steep, but more horizontally structured than that of the lower Shivalaya temple; However, there are no accompanying pavilions around the square 'dome'. The outer wall is pierced by several Jali windows, including one in the shape of a wheel; there are also some figural reliefs.
Not far from the temple are three buildings erected from rubble stones, which may have been designed as granaries.
- Malegitti Shivalaya Temple (approx. 600)
The temple dedicated to Shiva is located on a terrace at the rear of the north mountain and can only be reached from the city. It rises on a base zone and consists of a narrow portico, the flat roof of which rests on several massive pillars, a closed vestibule supported inside by several pillars, and a sanctum. The heavily structured roof structure is square in the lower part, but ends in a large octagonal dummy dome, which in turn is accompanied by smaller pavilions; further small dummy domes can be found in the corners of the broad structure. On a pillar inside the temple there is an almost prehistoric drawing of a standing person. The niches in the outer walls of the temple are decorated with figural reliefs ( dvarapalas , ganas , figures of gods). Window niches ( chandrasalas or kudus ) on two similarly designed cornices in the upper plinth and in the lower roof area also belong to the building decoration.
Südberg
A cave complex with three Hindu caves and a Jain sanctuary is located on the northern edge of the southern mountain; the cave temples were painstakingly carved out of the hard, reddish sandstone. The lowest and closest cave to the village is Cave I, the highest is Cave IV. Between the second and third caves there is also a smaller, unfinished cave or grotto. Cave I is dedicated to Shiva , caves II and III Vishnu , cave IV is a Jaina cave. The caves are attributed to the early Western Chalukya art, but date from different centuries.
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- Cave 1
The cave dates from the 6th / 7th centuries. Century and is dedicated to Shiva. On the walls of the vestibule ( mandapa ) there is a great relief of the 18-armed god as Nataraja ; Shiva stands on a pedestal decorated with lotus leaves and is accompanied by his mount ( vahana ), the Nandi bull and his son Ganesha . Further reliefs show Harihara , Ardhanarishvara as well as Parvati and Lakshmi , the consorts of the two main Hindu gods; Nandi and Garuda - the mounts of the two gods - can also be seen. The ceiling of the cave temple with a curled up snake deity ( naga ) in the middle is supported by mighty pillars; In the small, elevated sanctum on the back wall, which can only be reached by stairs, there is a lingam .
- Cave 2
Cave 2 from the 7th century is dedicated to Vishnu and is guarded by two stone guardian figures ( dvarapalas ); two reliefs depicting his incarnations as Varaha and Vamana adorn the vestibule. The ceiling of the main hall, adorned with a 16-petalled lotus blossom surrounded by fish, rests on ornate pillars. Also Swastika -Ornamente can be seen.
- Cave 3
- Cave 4
Cave 4 is a Jaina cult site with depictions of various Tirthankaras , including the most famous: Adinath in the sanctum, Parshvanata with a snake hood and Bahubali / Gomateshvara with tendrils on the legs and arms. The relief background and the accompanying figures are partially unfinished. The cave is dated to the 8th century.
lake
Several temples and smaller cave sanctuaries can also be found at Lake Bhutanatha (also called Lake Agastya) - dammed by a dam - or in the vicinity. The older Bhutanatha temple is made of massive stones and stone slabs, has only a small roof structure and probably dates from the 7th century; To the left and right of the entrance portal are two decorative panels and two massive, but multi-segmented pillars. The younger Bhutanatha temple stands directly on the lake and has a towering, multi-tiered roof structure with a strikingly high keystone.
One of the sea temples is the Dattatreya temple from the 12th century standing on the dam, in which Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu were worshiped together - in the form of Dattatreya . Also of interest is a small, flat-roofed shrine from the 6th century, the back wall of which is carved out of the rock and shows a beautiful relief of the god Vishnu on the world serpent Shesha , which - unusual for India - is spanned by an arch in the manner of a heavenly vault . A small - from the outside completely inconspicuous - Buddhist cave temple stands nearby.
The Archaeological Museum run by the Archaeological Survey of India is also close to the lake . a. the - headless - figure of a female goddess giving birth ('Lajja Gauri') can be seen, which shows that even in Brahmin -shaped Hinduism there was room for various deities from popular belief.
city
There are two medieval temples in today's city of Badami, including the 12th century Yellama temple with an exterior richly structured sanctum with a seamlessly connecting tower in the South Indian style with a false dome.
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Surroundings
In the vicinity of Badami - as well as in the vicinity of Aihole and Pattadakal - there are still some dolmen-like buildings. They are built from several vertical, more or less thick stone slabs and protected from rain and other weather conditions with one or two horizontal cover slabs. It is highly doubtful that these are grave structures - in view of the fact that corpses have been cremated in India for thousands of years. A front stone - with or without a 'soul hole' - is usually missing. So it could have been hermit temples away from the large temple districts, because in some cases the floor is still covered by a stone slab with notches in the manner of a yoni . But since there is no other architectural decoration, it is unclear whether these buildings are more recent or older than the main temple.
Remains of prehistoric (?) Rock carvings can still be found in a natural rock cave about 5 km away and only accessible on a hike. A scaled-down model of the cave is in the Badami Archaeological Museum.
See also
Other important temple sites of the western Chalukyas in the area of Badami are:
- Mahakuta (approx. 15 km east)
- Pattadakal (approx. 30 km northeast)
- Siddhanakolla (approx. 40 km northeast)
- Aihole (approx. 45 km northeast)
About 100 km southwest of Badami - in the vicinity of Hubli-Dharwad and Gadag - several temple buildings from the late Chalukya period (11th / 12th centuries) have been preserved. Hampi , the former capital of the Vijayanagar Empire, is about 135 km to the southeast.
literature
- JAS Burgess: Rock-Cut Temples at Bâdâmi, in the Dekhan , in Indian Antiquary 6, 1877.
- George Michell: Early Western Chalukyan Temples. An Architectural Description and Analysis of the Early Western Chalukyan Temples , 1975
- George Michell: The Penguin guide to the Monuments of India. Volume One: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain , 1989
- Marilia Albanese: Ancient India. From the origins to the 13th century. Karl-Müller-Verlag Cologne undated, p. 241ff ISBN 3-89893-009-2
- Henri Stierlin: Hindu India. Temples and sanctuaries from Khajuraho to Madurai. Taschen-Verlag Cologne, 1998 pp. 80ff ISBN 3-8228-7298-9
Web links
- Badami, cave temple - photos + information
- Badami - photos of the cave temples
- Badami - Video of the Cave Temples