City-information for Badami

Temples Accomodation Travel City Information Map

Population 17,000

This town used to be called Vatapi and was the capital of the early Chalukya rulers in the 6th and 8th centuries. The Agastya-tirtha tank, an artificial lake east of the village, was built in the fifth century. The rock-cut temples are famous. The Cave Temples of Badami is a good book to get for detailed information about the eaves. You can get this at the first

cave temple. Badami is a convenient base to visit Aihole and Paltadakal.

Five km from Badami is Mahakuta, which has two dozen Chalukyan shrines dedicated to Lord Siv. These temples, dating from the late 7th century, have both northern and southern influences in their design. The Mahakuteswara and Mallikarjuna Temples are especially interesting. The Naganatha Temple (2 km away) is also worth a visit.

You can hire a car for the Hotel Mayura Chalukya to go to pattadakal and Aihole.

There are many monkeys around the sites in Badami, and they can become aggressive if they see food.