Second week of August 2024. This trip was with my friend Karun and his children. The year's monsoon was quite good hence Malaprabha Nadi was flowing gracefully. The first picture is Malaprabha flowing northwards. At the bottom of the picture is Ramlingeshwar temple complex. This is the stretch where Malaprabha zigzags. Ramlingeshwar sits at the turning point where Malaprabha flows northwards.
A little further up a stream merges into Malaprabha. The settlement seen here is Aihole village. Aihole is considered as the nursery of temple architecture. There are close to a hundred temples all built by Chalukyan builders between VI and X centuries. Here temple builders experimented with structural designs, many being prototypes. The successful designs were replicated in a larger scale at other Chalukyan sites.
Another look at the confluence. Most of the temples are on the right bank. There are a handful temples on the left bank which are rarely visited.
Here we have Galaganatha group of temples. In this complex are three clusters. Also there's a dolmen. Next to the temple is a huge Ficus which has assumed the shape of a mushroom. The Ficus is home to birds.
This green circle spans nearly thirty meters. A few years ago when some of the temples were being reconditioned, sculptors used to work under this very tree. Nothing like a natural shelter in hot summer days.
I've seen this Ficus more than half dozen times spanning over a decade. It has always been green. Wish this amazing living being a long life.
The crossroads seen is formed by the crisscrossing of Pattadkal-Aihole road and an interior road. For those wanting to reach Galaganatha temple and Ramlingeshwara temple have to turn at this junction.
Malaprabha snaking through the shallow valley seen from a high point above Aihole hill.
This is the flat-topped hillock of Aihole. On the northern tip is Meguti Gudi and Buddhist Chaitya. Close to the southern tip, on the western side is the rockcut Jaina Basadi, rockcut means it is monolithic. Besides, the Jaina Basadi there are two other monolithic shrines; Ravalaphadi temple and a hollowed out boulder temple. The gently sloping plateau of Aihole hill is an important archaeological site- on it are a large number of dolmen dating back to Neolithic times.
An overhead shot of the rock formations of Jaina Basadi.
Before closing this post, here are links to two older posts which you might interesting and helpful:
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