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While in Badami, I decided to check out the Banashankari temple which is a short 5km journey from the town. I set out on an afternoon after returning from the caves. There was a bus about to leave from the bus-stop, and it took me a little more than 10 minutes to make it to Banashankari.
I did not know much about the place, and went exploring on the village that was no more than a narrow strip on both sides of the main road. I walked forward and found tiny shops all along the road. Initially they were chai shops or make-shift restaurants, which gave way to shops selling pooja paraphernalia. Seeing the later kind, I presumed I must be close to the temple, and indeed the temple appeared soon. There was a large Kalyani(pond) in front of the temple, which caught my eye before I saw the temple itself. It first excited me – a medium sized square water body with pillars all around and an entrance to it near the main road, with a sit-out around the entrance. Getting closer and realizing that it was disappointingly dirty, I moved away and into the temple. I crossed few women on the way to temple, who walked around with food baskets that contained lunch packs for sale – Jolada Rotti(corn rotis?) and chutney, curd and a few other things – typical North Karnataka diet.
Looking at all the arrangements made for queues to contain and streamline people, the temple seemed to take in lot of visitors. But it was pretty much empty when I stepped in. I did not spend much time along the temple and walked back on the main road, where I decided to stop for sometime at a chai shop. My basic intent was to take a few pictures of the shop and its owner, and took excuse in a cup of tea to spend some time there.
It was a small but clean shop with its roof and walls made of tin sheets. Faded decorative color papers hung from the roof, which seemed to be put up many months ago. Film posters adorned the walls, mostly dominated by movies starring Ganesh, the most popular Kannada lead actor these days. I have always wondered on the association of tea stalls and movie posters and have not yet managed to figure the connection. There were no customers when I entered but a few unwashed cups indicated that there were people a little while ago. The shop-owner seemed to be a quiet and calm person who talked little and spent his time just staring out into the road. His forehead was ash-smeared, indicating his religious following. I asked for a cup of cha, and he acknowledged me by nodding his head. But he did not get up to make it or fetch it from inside but simply continued to stare outside. I looked around and took a few pictures. After a minute or so, he decided it is time to serve me and poured a cup for me from the kettle. It was sugary and strong – the way they like their tea in these parts – and I could hardly take in a sip or two. I started a conversation instead.
“Do you get lot of visitors here?”
“Yes”, he said, “in large numbers, there is a fair happening next month and the whole place will be full of people.”
That was sufficient to break the ice and he continued to talk. The standard questions – “Where are you from”? and “What do you do”? followed naturally. “I have a friend in Bangalore”, he said excitedly, took out his mobile and asked me to note down his friend’s number. I wasn’t surprised at it, since it is normal for villagers to expect to make contact with people at the slightest excuse, and they generally expect everyone to know everyone from the same place. I note down the number for his sake, pretending interested. Then he asked me to dial the number from my phone, which got me a bit unhappy. But he explained quickly – “I want to talk to him, there is no currency left in my phone”. I obliged and he has a short conversation, just exchanging greetings and making some casual talk. He returned me the phone beaming widely and said – “my friend wants to know when am I coming to meet him in Bangalore”. I acknowledged him with a smile, and we talked for a few more minutes.
It was time for me to leave. I got up and asked him – “how much”?
“no.. no..”, he said, “don’t bother”.
I pressed him to take his dues and he smiled and said – “I have made a call from your phone. I can’t accept money from you now”.
We repeated this conversation once again, and then I parted from him with a ‘good bye’.
Continued at: Pattadakal
Hampi >> Badmi >> Aihole >> Pattadakal
+Previous: At Hampi, One evening
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I took a bus from Hampi(see previous post on Hampi) to Badami via Ilkal. I stayed there for next four days, using Badami as a base to go around Pattadakal and Aihole. While I was there, I also visited tiny temple villages – Banashankari and Mahakoota.
I arrived at Badami around 4.30 in the evening and immediately headed towards the caves. I was up for a surprise when I reached there. Thought I had seen many pictures of the caves, I was not ready for the size of the rocks and its deep colors. The giant rock in which the caves were carved are probably a good hundred meter tall from the ground. And the sandstone has a deep reddish color that looks very charming with the evening light. Agastyamuni or Agastya Lake was yet another surprise. It is a huge lake with rocky hills surrounding it on three sides and sandstone temples at the feet of these hills. It is worth being there in the mornings and evenings of winter.
Agastyamuni Lake
One of the cave temples
Inside the temple
Next morning, I woke up early and walked up to the top of the hill opposite to the cave temple, on the other side of the lake. I was on the top a few minutes before sunrise and sat down at a strategic point to witness sun coming up from the top.
Views from the top of the hill
A little later, I noticed a darga on the top of the hill, where a small bunch of people had already gathered early in the morning and cleaning up the premise, supervised by an old man. I walked across the Darga looking for a good place to sit and spend sometime. A few monkeys who inhabited the ficus tree next to the Darga seemed to be unhappy to see me approaching them, but nevertheless put up with me after grunting a bit. I sat far from the Darga, but at a distance where I could see them and occasionally when someone talked loudly, hear them. Prayers started sometime after eight and a priest started chanting. To my surprise, there was a mix of pooja to Hindu and Muslim gods and prayers switched between Sanskrit and Persian! The priest went on to the sound of a bell saying ‘Om Namahshivaya’ followed up with ‘Om Ali Bhai Namah'(I hope I remember the name right), and after sometime, would switch to Persian. I was later to learn that a Hindu and Muslim saint stayed together in the premise, which explained the whole thing.
Terraces of Badami’s houses, seen from the hill
One of the temples on the top of the hill
I spent a few more hours walking around the hill exploring the ancient temples on the hill and looking at the lake, cave temples in the opposite direction and getting a bird’s eye view of Badami town. The way back to the town took me throw narrow gaps in the deep red sandstones, which is incredibly pretty.
Way to the hill from the town
Way to the hill from the town
That evening, I walked along the lake, along the Bhoothanatha(lord of demons – Shiva) temple complex and the ASI museum. I did not go into the museum, but the museum’s structure is built nicely to complement the premise and the ancient structures of Badami, instead of the usual pale yellow government buildings. Bhoothanatha temple is on a majestic setup with a hill rising behind it and the grand Agastyamuni lake in front of it. I sat on the steps of the lake watching the U shaped hill, ancient Bhoothanatha temple and the cave temples till the sun went down.
The grand setup of Bhoothanatha temple
While I sat there, two brash young kids came into me and started a conversation. They lost interest in me in a few minutes and looked around for something to amuse themselves. A few goats were passing by, and one of them chased a goat with another one running right behind him. They caught the goat, pulled it to a side, laughing all the time and started milking it! A few seconds later, I think they did not find that exercise worthy either, and let off the goat and walked away laughing out loudly.
Of the four days I was there, I spent another morning visiting the caves, and the Malegitthi Shivalaya temple on the hill opposite to the caves. Bhoothanatha temple was easily the most impressive of the temples I have seen in Badami, and the steep sandstone rocks are very beautiful to look at. Walking among these sandstone paths is a nice feeling.
Malegitthi Shivalaya
About Badami’s Temples
The templats of Badami are set on a U shaped hill with Agastyamuni Lake in the center of it. At the mouth of the U(west) is a mound that was built to create the lake and this separates the lake and Badami town. To one arm of the U(south), carved to the walls of the hill are the cave temples. Bhoothanatha temple is located at the bottom of the U(east). Malegitthi Shivalaya temple and a few unnamed temples without idols are on the northers arm of the hill.
Of the four cave temples, third one is the largest and has some fine carvings
There are two major set of temples in Badami – the cave temples and Bhoothanatha temples. Interestingly, of the four cave temples, three are dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu while the fourth one is a Jain temple. Temple 3 is the largest and has some fine carvings.
Inside the fourth temple, which is a Jain temple
The temples were built by the kings of Chalukya dynasty who ruled a large part of South India from 6th to 8th century. Badami was the capital of Chalukyas.
Badami’s Monkeys
Badami has a huge population of monkeys, and I had heard a lot about monkey menace. I did not get to see much of this in the first three days. At the darga where there were many monkeys, they seemed harmless and did not bother me. However, on the last day when I went back to the cave temples again, they were creating a few problems. Someone told me about a monkey flicking an expensive digicam, and warned me about it. I saw a monkey pulling off a long bunch of Kanakambara flowers that a lady was wearing. One of them even tried to see if it can open my bag. They can create problems if you are not careful, but fortunately are not aggressive enough to scare you.
Conti
nued at: Banashankari Temple
Hampi >> Badmi >> Aihole >> Pattadakal
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I set out to Hemakuta Paravatha on one of the evenings in Hampi with my camera, tripod and other photography paraphernalia. I walked beyond Viroopaksha temple and climbed up the hill and found a good location to start shooting. In a few minutes, I had my equipment setup, camera mounted on the tripod and started off. Must have been two-three pictures that I had shot, and was wandering around the hill when someone called me.
A man sitting on one of the boulders – he looked like a government babu – indicated to me that some one is calling me from below. And there was a man with the uniform of a security person who was waving at me and coming towards me. I wondered once if I had stolen something or behaved badly somewhere, but obviously neither of it; there must be something else. So I decided to bring out a curious look on my face and wait for the man to come to me. He came up and said – “you can’t shoot with a tripod here”. That was a surprise I wasn’t ready for; I know ASI doesn’t allow use of tripods within their premise to prevent any damages, but I was standing on an open hill, built and cherished by mother earth, not by our ancient kings and architects. Whatzupwiththesefolks, I wondered. Actually, was a bit infuriated but pretended wonder instead.
Viroopaksha temple and the boulder covered country
Unable to contain my curiosity to myself, I politely asked him if there is a problem with using a tripod, and was there any reason for this. He pondered on the question a bit. From the looks of his face, he did not seem to know an answer but felt obliged to justify his action. He was only doing his duty as commanded by the brilliant folks to whom he reported, and I would have been happy to move on if he had said just that. Instead, he decided to use his brain and come with an answer that would help him dominate me. After much thinking he finally created an answer –
“If you shoot with the tripod, your pictures will come out perfect. There won’t be any fault in it. If it is a handheld shot at least there will be some shake or some imperfections in the picture. So you can’t shoot with the tripod”.
I gawked. A perfection reaction would have been to gasp with my mouth wide open and faint immediately, unable to contain the surprise. But I let sanity prevail and managed a gentle smile, but unable to speak yet after listening to the brilliant response. When all this happened, the babu who had initially called me had walked towards us, and realizing the situation and probably worrying that I might indeed faint, interrupted. He said – “he is only doing his duty; we have been told not to allow tripod the hill, which he is trying to do. How would he know the reason behind it, we should really ask his bosses”. I smiled and nodded, and I think babu felt encouraged to go on with my response. He continued and now switched to government lingo, saying that if I would still want to shoot with a tripod, must go to Bangalore and bring a ‘permission letter’ from so-and-so officer, etc. At this point I cut in and said “thank you”, which he clearly understood to mean ‘stop now’, and obliged.
I decided to withdraw, for neither did I have the wish to argue with the messengers nor did I have the energy to go and bring ‘permission letter’. But I would not go away simply either. So I got those people to help me unfold the tripod, made them hold my camera and wait for me till I packed it all inside, just to give them some minor trouble and satisfy my ego! And after all that, the colors of the setting sun had started to appear on the west and I moved on, immediately forgetting all the drama that happened.
Sunset from Hemakoota
And I am still wondering why I haven’t got those perfect pictures he talked about, though I have been shooting with a tripod for many many years now!
Continued at: Badami