Badami cave temples
— — sandstone the kings carved into temples.
Not only on a wall.
“Four temples cut directly into the red sandstone cliff above Badami town in northern Karnataka. The Chalukya kings carved them in the sixth century, three for Hindu worship, one Jain, looking down on Agastya Lake. The third cave carries a dated inscription from 578, one of the earliest firm dates in South Indian temple architecture. The view from the upper terrace runs out across the Deccan.
Badami cave temples, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Badami caves are cut into a red sandstone cliff above the town of Badami in Bagalkot district, northern Karnataka. The Chalukya dynasty made Badami, then called Vatapi, their capital in the mid sixth century, and the four caves were excavated between roughly 543 and 600 CE. Three are dedicated to Hindu deities and the fourth to Jain tirthankaras. The third and largest cave, dedicated to Vishnu, carries an inscription dated to 578 in the reign of Mangalesha. The complex overlooks Agastya Lake and forms part of the wider Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal heritage region.
The cliff is a soft, deeply weathered sandstone the colour of old brick. The Chalukya carvers worked downward from the ceiling, leaving columns, brackets, and full figures standing in relief. The columns of Cave 3 are square at the base and shift to a rounded fluted profile through a series of decorative bands, an early experiment with what would become the standard South Indian column. Inside, an eighteen-armed Nataraja occupies the wall of Cave 1, and Cave 3 holds a four-metre Vishnu seated on the coils of Ananta. Pigment survives in pockets on the ceilings.
The Archaeological Survey of India manages the site and the four caves open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. A small entry fee admits visitors to all four caves and the path between them. The climb is roughly two hundred and fifty steps cut into the cliff; the upper caves face west and read best in the late afternoon when the sandstone warms. Badami town has a railway station with overnight service from Bangalore; many visitors combine the caves with the temple complexes at Pattadakal and Aihole, both within an hour by road.