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Badami

Also known as Vatapi

Badami, the ancient Vatapi, is a town in northern Karnataka set in a gorge of red sandstone around a reservoir, the capital of the Chalukya dynasty from the mid-sixth to the mid-eighth century, known for its rock-cut cave temples.

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The capital

Vatapi takes its name, in local legend, from a demon of that name whom the sage Agastya digested; the reservoir at the heart of the town is called Agastya Tirtha. The town lies in a horseshoe of steep sandstone cliffs, with forts on the hills to the north and south. Pulakeshin I, the first independent Chalukya king, fortified the hill in 543, according to an inscription cut on the rock, and made it his capital. His successors built it into the seat of an empire that controlled most of the Deccan.

The caves

Four cave temples are cut into the southern cliff above the lake. They are among the earliest Hindu cave temples in the Deccan. Cave 1 is dedicated to Shiva and has a dancing figure with eighteen arms. Caves 2 and 3 are dedicated to Vishnu; Cave 3, the largest, carries an inscription of 578 recording its excavation under Mangalesha, Pulakeshin I's son, and has monumental reliefs of Vishnu seated on the serpent, as the boar Varaha, as Narasimha and as Trivikrama, the dwarf who grew to cover the universe in three strides. Traces of painting survive on its ceiling. Cave 4 is Jain, with figures of Parshvanatha and Bahubali. The caves follow the plan of a pillared verandah and hall with a shrine at the back, and their sculpture is among the finest of the early Deccan.

War with the Pallavas

Pulakeshin II (r. c. 610–642), the greatest of the line, defeated Harsha of Kannauj on the Narmada and fought the Pallavas of Kanchi. The Pallava king Narasimhavarman I invaded the Deccan in about 642 and captured Vatapi, and Pulakeshin died, probably in the fighting. Narasimhavarman took the title Vatapikonda, "conqueror of Vatapi", and a Pallava inscription was cut at Badami recording the conquest. Pulakeshin's son Vikramaditya I recovered the capital after some years. The rivalry continued for a century, and in about 740 Vikramaditya II took Kanchi in turn.

The structural temples

Alongside the caves, Badami has early structural temples. The Upper and Lower Shivalayas on the northern hill and the Malegitti Shivalaya stand on rocky outcrops, in the southern dravida style. The Bhutanatha temples on the east bank of the lake, partly of the Chalukya period and partly later, are much photographed for their setting on the water.

After the Chalukyas

In 753 the Rashtrakuta Dantidurga overthrew the Chalukyas of Badami, and the town lost its role as a capital. It remained a local centre under later dynasties, including the Chalukyas of Kalyani and Vijayanagara, and its forts were used by the Adil Shahis, the Marathas and Tipu Sultan. The town was renamed briefly by colonial maps but kept its local name of Badami. It is now a tourist base for visiting Aihole and Pattadakal as well.

Further reading

  • Michell, George. The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. University of Chicago Press, 1988
  • Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. Pearson, 2008
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta. A History of South India. Oxford University Press, 1955

See also

  • Chalukyas of Bādāmi — The Chalukyas of Bādāmi ruled the Deccan for two centuries from 543 CE, checked Harṣa at the Narmada, and built at Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal the temples in which the Indian temple form was worked out.
  • Chalukya-Pallava rivalry — The Chalukya-Pallava rivalry was a roughly two-century contest for dominance in the Deccan and Tamil country between the Chalukyas of Badami and the Pallavas of Kanchipuram, marked by repeated invasions of each other's capitals between the 7th and 8th centuries CE.
  • Pallava dynasty — The Pallavas ruled the northern Tamil country from Kāñcīpuram for six centuries, fought the Chalukyas for control of the peninsula, and began the tradition of stone temple building in the south at Mahabalipuram.
  • Rashtrakuta dynasty — The Rashtrakuta dynasty was an imperial power that dominated the Deccan and much of central India from the mid-8th to the late 10th century CE, ruling from its capital at Manyakheta and sponsoring the Kailasa Temple at Ellora.
  • Ajanta Caves — The Ajanta Caves are a complex of some thirty Buddhist rock-cut monasteries and prayer halls carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora River in Maharashtra between roughly the 2nd century BCE and the late 5th century CE.

This entry was last revised on 12 November 2026.