Bagalkot - Back to the Chalukya dynasty

Badami, Aihole, Kudal Sangama and Pattadkal are Karnataka tourists places' delight in this district. Almatti dam also is in this district.

Badami, Aihole and Pattadkal take us into the Chalukya dynasty. The Badami caves have their famous 'menabasi' carvings are very intricate. There are four rock-cut temples. Cave number three is famous for its frescoes. Aihole is known as the 'cradle of temple architecture'. One can see the temple architecture in its embryonic form here in the earliest Ladkhan temple to more complex forms in Kunligudi and Durgigudi.

Bagalgot Temple

The temples at these three places mentioned above, were centres of architectural activity between 6th and 8th centuries, when Chalukyas were in power. Aihole was the capital of Chalukyas before they shifted to Badami. Later the Chalukyas shifted to Pattadkal and returned to Badami only after Vikramaditya I avenged the death of this father and regained Badami in 645 AD, defeating Pallava king Narasimhavarman. At Pattadkal, one can witness the early Chalukyan sculpture detailing events from Ramayana and Mahabharatha.

Durga Temple Aihole

Besides these famous tourist spots, at Kudala Sangama, the confluence of Krishna and Malaprabha rivers, is situated the pilgrimage center of Veerashaivas, Basaveshwara, the great Veerashaiva saint had lived here.