Badami

Badami, the ancient Vatapi, lies between sandstone cliffs around a tank in northern Karnataka. It was the capital of the early Chalukyas, whose sixth- and seventh-century monuments include rock-cut shrines and structural temples. In the caves, sculptors carved Shiva dancing with many arms, forms of Vishnu and other deities into the living rock. Fortifications crown the heights above the town.

Long after the Chalukyas, Badami passed through the hands of Vijayanagara, the Adil Shahis and later Deccan powers. In the eighteenth century its fortress became involved in the struggle between Mysore and the Marathas. A Maratha siege in 1786 forced the Mysore garrison to surrender. The old capital’s caves and temples remained a striking reminder of the earlier dynasty amid these later contests.