Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal

In the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, there rest three unique locations for any traveller afflicted by wanderlust. The first of these, Badami, was once the capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540–757 AD. In this idyllic landscape, in a ravine at the foot of the rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake, one can find ancient temples cut into the rocks. Legend says that the sage Agastya killed the terrible asura Vatapi near this location, and the nearby areas boasted the most famous architectural achievements of the period.

Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal have some of the finest rock-cut monuments in India, and here, Jain and Hindu monuments come together in a great congress of Indian architecture, left unrivalled in their preservation and expressive nature for all time.