A tour of Vatapi Chalukyan realm - part4

...continued from A tour of Vatapi Chalukyan realm - part3.

Day-2 of our tour started with Aihole hill, the history of this hill goes back to Stone Age. The western face of the hill is a long mass of sandstone formation in which are several shelters, both open & closed. The hill top is a plateau, not exactly level but a sloping flat surface, is a prehistoric burial site. In the burial site are ruins of 70+ megalithic tombs. The base of the hill below the rock formation is the remains of a VI Century quarry. One can rock-cutting marks at several places. Also there are sculptors names and work logs inscribed in stone. The sculptors had also made an open air bath place with a shower. From this side of the hill, river Malaprabha is in plain view. What makes this place special is attributed to the fact that Malaprabha flows in the northerly direction, in Hindu traditions such a place is considered sacred. This is the reason why Aihole was established here.

Right on the sacred bank of river Malaprabha are two groups of temples- Ramlingeshwara and Galaganatha. Also, the area next to Ramlingeshwara is said to be a prehistoric burial site. According to archaeological studies there were stone circles here. I did a quick check but couldn't find any stone circles. Hoping I'm mistaken about the exact spot and it is situated elsewhere.

This north-facing Thoranagallu welcomes visitors to Ramlingeshwara group. On the Thorana are Nataraja and two lions. This group consists of eight or nine individual temples, all dedicated to Shiva.

Here's a collage of four temples. The bottom-left temple is Ramalingeshwara Gudi, the main temple of this group. This temple is a Dwikutachala i.e. a temple with two sanctums. The temple's two Shikhara are square and stepped pyramidal structures. So are the Shikhara of other minor temples of this group. The two larger temples and couple of smaller ones are west facing. The remaining smaller temples are east facing.

That's Malaprabha waters flowing towards us, and then bends towards west. One can walk down the steps and out of the gateway to the shore.

In the past, the water levels have risen almost until the gateway. Pushpa takes a break from walking & standing, she's mediating on a stone seat at this sacred spot. Who knows that stone might've been some wise sage's meditation seat and only the fortunate ones get to touch them.

A serene moment.. except for the gracefully flowing water of Malaprabha everything is still. A few minutes later we saw a couple of peacocks on the sand dune island. Here I would to suggest the reader to take a look at the journey of Malaprabha Nadi and know some of the religious & historical places on its banks and in its vicinity.

A rock shrine dedicated to Hanuman and Nagaraja. On the right side i.e. next to Hanuman are two inscriptions, probably names of sculptors who worked here. Also on the same rock a few feet away is this 12 x 9 matrix of Linga. It's a Shaiva practice to worship a set of Linga at one place. Similar sets of Linga can be seen at Kotilinga at Chakra Tirtha and Hemakuta hill, Hampi.

Having spent a peaceful time here, we decide to head back towards Aihole village for a snack and then continue the temple run. I think we had mirchi-bajji & tea at one of the shops in the cluster near Durga temple complex. After the refreshing break we headed to the close by Huchichimalli and Ravalaphadi, the two are almost neighbors to each other.

Huchichimalli group consist of three Shivalaya and a stepped well built in the XI Century CE by Kalyana Chalukya kings. In the collage below, the top-right image is the main temple; the top-left is the smaller temple next to the main temple; both are west-facing. While the main temple has a Rekhanagara Shikhara the smaller temple has a square based stepped pyramidal Shikhara. The main temple has an inscription on its outer wall, and an interesting sculpture of Kartikeya on his peacock, in the Mukhamantapa ceiling. The other smaller temple, bottom-right image, is east-facing. The three stubby columns in front of it are called Poornakumbha sculptures. I think these columns are connected to cattle donation or cattle possessed by the temple.

The Kalyani (stepped well) has sculptures on the inside & outside of it's walls. such as Dikpalas, Mahishamardini, Brahma, Vishnu, Gajalakshmi, Kartikeya, stories of Panchatantra and Kiratarjuniya etc. In the below collage, the boar hunting (Kiratarjuniya story) and Ganapati images are part of the stepped well. The top two images, Kartikeya and an erotic scene are on the main temple.

This place too is free from tourist crowds, one could spend time here peacefully. We sat in the Mukhamantapa for a few minutes before moving on to the monolith shrine Ravalaphadi.

Also called as Ravanaphadi, this VI Century CE creation is one of the oldest shrines. Generally temples are either north or east facing, however Ralaphadi is southwest facing. Apart from the rock-cut temple, there are three small structural temples and a small rock-cut cuboid niche with a Shivalinga in it.

Building a structural temple and carving out a rock-cut temple from a single stone is a different matter altogether. The design & sculpting a rock-cut was handled by the most experienced sculptors, I think. Ancient sculptors designed and carved them in such a way that it lasted for centuries. If you look at the canopy like projection over the entrance here, the section is quite thin - this is seriously a delicate work. The sculptors even made a balustrade for the steps.

Where there's Shiva, a Nandi has to be present. Here Nandi idol is placed outside but directly opposite to the deity. Nandi is made of sandstone, despite the roughness the necklace beads are so clearly visible.

The little structural temple with a pillared Mukhamantapa. Even here the steps have balustrade. The Shikhara of this temple is like a dome, a dome with a square base and a rounded crown. To my knowledge there's no deity idol in its sanctum. In the background, is the cuboid niche with Shiva Linga.

The interior of Ravalaphadi has four separate spaces; the central hall and around its sides are three sanctums. The sanctum straight ahead has an idol of Shivalinga on a pedestal - all part of the monolith. The left sanctum features a ten armed Nataraja (dancing Shiva) with Parvati, Ganesha, Kartikeya & Saptamatrika (seven mother of Shakti tradition). Besides the Nataraja, there are sculptures of Ardhanarishwara, BhooVaraha, Mahishamardhini, Harihara, Bhringi-Shiva-Parvati & river goddesses. On the floor of the central hall is a lotus. The ceiling has a lotus at the center and three concentric squares around it. Within the spaces between the squares are floral motifs and at the corners are fishes. Around the hall, on the sides just above the floor are Ganas and other Hindu characters. One could sit in here and study the designs for hours together and still miss something..

I wish to come here again in the drier months and explore the roof of Ravalaphadi, there might be sculptors' signature or work logs similar to the ones seen at rock cut Jaina Basadi. For now, we move on to the star attraction of Aihole- Durga temple complex. We spent most of the time at the main item of this complex the VI Century CE creation, the east-facing apsidal structured Surya Devastana which is better known as Durga Gudi. The name Durga temple is a derivative of Durga meaning fort. Around the inner wall are idols of Mahishamardhini, Bhoovaraha, Narasimha, Harihara, Ardhanarishwara, etc. We sat on the Sukhanasi in the Mukhamantapa for a while admiring the massive columns decorated with sculptures depicting celestial nymphs, amorous couples, and panels depicting stories from Hindu legends. At this point I felt, Pushpa might've hit saturation point, may be she won't be able to absorb any further. Honestly, I experience saturation while seeing sculptures after sculptures and then start losing interest. The same had happened during our visit to Salar Jung museum. However, that's not the case with prehistoric sites; I've exhausted my energy but never felt saturated.

The museum is opposite Durga temple but we opted out. The other temples of this complex are Chappara Gudi (named after its sloping roof), Nadyar Gudi, Suryanarayana Gudi, Ladkhan Gudi, Gaudara Gudi, Chakra Gudi, Badiger Gudi and two nameless temples. Also there's a stepped well and a gateway which is associated with Surya Devastana. We had to skip some of the temples because of ongoing repair work. In this complex, my favorite is Lad Khan temple. The structure is unique and it has a stone ladder. Like most temples here this has been named after the person who had occupied it last. It's high time this Shivalaya is given a relevant name... may be I'll call it Mahadi Gudi because it has a small room at the top. The stone beams placed on the roof are akin to wooden poles placed on a thatch roof hut. Now the question is what is the purpose of those beams?

As seen at Huchchimalli temple, there are six Poornakumbha here.  The verandah of this temple is spacious with a comfortable Sukhanasi. At the right side of the verandah is the stone ladder connecting this level to the roof. Presently the hole in the roof has been blocked to prevent tourists climbing on to the roof.

The inner space of this temple feels big despite the massive columns and the dimness. This temple has huge perforated screen windows of different designs. At the center of the hall i.e. directly in front of the Garbhagudi door is a 4' high Nandi idol made of brown colored stone. One needs to really see this temple for real to feel it's beauty.

For a change we decided to head out of Aihole, we really needed to take a break from temples. We took our car and headed towards Siddanakolla. There are two routes, one through the forest area road and the other from Siddanakolla village. I took the forest area route, a little round about but an enjoyable drive. Kolla is a cleft in a hill through which a stream or a rivulet flows. The spot where the cleft starts is sacred hence there are shrines. A few of the well known Kolla are Huligyammana Kolla, Naganatha Kolla, Shabari Kolla near Sureban and Varavi Siddeshwara Kolla near Munvalli. These are the ones I remember but there are many of them. Kollas attract crowds during festival days and Amavasya. Luckily no such day, Siddanakolla was peaceful like the previous times I'd been here.

This spot is the where the ground parts and continues until the base of the hill. During my previous visits, there was no waterfall, instead water used to flow out from under the rocks. I was happy to see the waterfall, it's clear and fresh. Apart from us there were two other small groups. This group of a man & his two grandchildren were from a nearby village. The kids were bathing in sculpted pit while the man washed clothes. There are three such manmade pits, connected in a series, to temporarily stock flowing water.

This west-facing two-storey temple is an ancient creation, probably V Century or even earlier. The deity is a black stone Shivalinga. In front of the Shivalinga shrine is Basavanna in a simple mantapa. Besides the temple is a damaged inscription stone. During my first visit I'd seen the last Sunrays of the day falling on the Linga. Apart from this temple, there are two more temples one them has a proper Shikhara. Sadly caretakers of this sacred place have painted the stone structures with lime which is harmful to the stone.

Besides the ancient temples, there are two recent buildings here; one is a Devi temple and the other is a Samadhi Mandir of an ascetic who lived here. The Swamiji's disciples continued maintaining the place. As I understand disciples take turns of being present here handling day to day affairs. In fact Anna Dasoha is one of the activities here, any visitor coming here in the day time can have a simple lunch of anna-saru. The two gentlemen on my left were the caretakers, they had prepared tea and offering it us which we gladly accepted. Meanwhile, the kids & their grandad had finished bathing and they were heading to the Devi Gudi.

At the temple, while the grandad was busy doing pooje the two kids had smeared each other's face with Vibhuti. The grandfather told us that they were cousins, made for each other. Surely these parents must been relaxed while these little monsters were away. We say bye to all the folks we met here and headed back towards Aihole.

This time we took the road via Siddanakolla village. On the village outskirts were these conical objects. From a distance I thought they were huts. No, they are jowar stalks bunched together in that cylindrical form to keep the stalks as dry as possible. Rainwater would slide off the sloped tops and fall away from the bunch. The jowar stalks are chopped and fed to cattle during drier months when green fodder is scarce. Most of the practices here are ancient, probably thousands of years old. Until the exposure to digital technology, life in remote parts of northern Karnataka was really close to the earlier life. In fact , there are ancient traditions which are practiced to this day. For example- during one of the festivals, village folk prepare food, carry them in vessels to shrines atop rock hills. After pooja and offering food to the deities, the food is served not on plates or leaves but on stone. People select flat smooth spots, wash them with water, serve food on it and eat. This is something I must learn more about... when, why, etc.

A few hours of the day was still left, we decided to visit Galaganatha temple complex which is in the neighborhood of Ramalingeshwara complex. Let's catch up again in ...A tour of Vatapi Chalukyan realm - part5.

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A tour of Vatapi Chalukyan realm - part3

...continued from A tour of Vatapi Chalukyan realm - part2

July 18, 2022. After a good night sleep, we woke up early, fresh & energetic. We bathed, got ready and had a light breakfast near Durga temple complex junction. Our plan for the morning was to explore Aihole hill starting with the ancient quarry with an bathing place, then see the Jaina Basadi, the prehistoric megalithic tombs, Meguti Gudi, Boudha Chaitya and nameless temples on the hill. We drove straight to the Jaina Basadi which is on the western side of the hill and parked our car, got the cameras, a backpack with snacks & water and locked the car. This is my third or fourth visit to this spot, every single time this place has been peaceful. Behind me is the Basadi..

This Basadi is a special one because it's monolithic, like Ravalaphadi which is a kilometer from here. BTW, locals call this Myanada Basadi. Myanada means "made of wax" in Kannada. Ancient sculptors hacked this cone-shaped boulder, making it partially hollow inside. While we were here, a canine watched us from the boulder top...it was curious about tourists coming this early.

I wanted to spend a few minutes here so that Pushpa could see this shrine created in VII or VIII Century CE i.e. during the early Chalukyan times. This is the fifth rock-cut shrine in this trip, the earlier ones being the four rock-cut temples of Badami. Straight ahead in this picture is the western slope of Aihole hill. On the slope are natural shelters, a few suitable for humans and a number of smaller caverns which could be inhabited by wild animals. In a few shelters paintings dating back to the Neolithic times can be seen. The lower part of the slope is a former quarry, signs of quarrying activity can be seen even to this day. Do read my earlier post on Ravalaphadi & ancient sandstone quarry.

The temple has two sections; inner and outer. The outer section is a rectangular hall with Jaina motifs on the ceiling, and on the walls are relief sculptures of Parshvanatha and Bahubali. One portion of the ceiling art has a maze of Swastika & Kamala. The inner section is a larger hall with three sanctums i.e. Garbhagudi. Only the south-facing sanctum has a deity i.e. a life-size idol of Mahaveera. The sanctum is flanked by guards holding lotuses. All inner doorways feature pairs of sculpted pillars. A huge relief sculpture occupies the entire ceiling of the inner hall. The sculpture features five lotuses, four forming a square and the fifth at the point where the diagonals meet. It's a pretty complex piece of work showing floral motifs, a pair of human faces, and imaginary creatures. One could spend hours studying these amazing works of arts.

After spending about 15 minutes in the Basadi, we moved on to see the ancient quarry. I wanted to see the bathing spot and show it to Pushpa. Though I had seen it earlier I missed it as we passed by it. It was Pushpa who spotted it. Here we are, the showering place with a natural water source. The sculptors have made a groove to channelize the water and a small cavity at the edge of the vertical face. There's some engineering in the groove & cavity design to handle different rates of flow.

The vertical face seen here seems like a combination of natural and manmade. If you look closely, a outline of a pillar can be seen. Possibly the sculptors had planned some aesthetic touches. Just above the horizontal band are two inscriptions which seems to be two different names. These are two of the many other inscriptions here.

In the picture below, see the chisel marks along the curved edge. A good portion of this rock has been cut away systematically. Ancient stone workers were expert geologists, with the knowledge they possessed they cut & shaped stones as though they were wax. There are plenty of such quarried rocks on this side of the hill.

Close to the bathing place, we found this rock with series of vertical bars. These sets of bars as I understand is sculptor's work log, may be the master sculptor's log. Probably each bar denotes a week or a day. We had seen similar 'logs' and also names inscribed at Badami cave temples site.

We decide to move on. Next on our list was the prehistoric megalithic tombs site for which we had to get on the hill. The hill top is a 640m long sloping plateau, of I may call it that. During my previous visit here, we had counted 70+ tombs of various sizes, all of them made of slabs sourced locally. Meanwhile, the curious canine had become our friend and tagged along. Somewhere in the vicinity was another canine which was little shy, it followed us but at a distance.

This is one of the first tombs we see as we head in the northerly direction. Each of these tombs is a simple assembly of five slabs; four vertical slabs forming a four-walled chamber and a capstone. Most of these tombs have been vandalized by treasure hunters. That's the reason why most of these tombs seem like assemblies of three or four slabs. In this picture, the slabs lying on the ground must've been a demolished tomb. Since we are looking at tombs, one might wondering about the burial.

This is another badly damaged tomb, two of the walls have been removed which has exposed the innards which is a mass of red dirt. I'm trying to imagine the burial process. First the four walls are positioned to create a open chamber. Next a bed of soil is prepared, the corpse is placed on the bed and then covered with more soil until the chamber is completely packed. Then the much heavier capstone is placed thereby sealing the chamber making it scavenger proof. Neolithic period in India is starts 6500 BCE and ends 1400 BCE. These structures remained undisturbed for thousands of years but the present day humans simply can't leave things alone.

Of the 70+ tombs, this particular structure is probably the biggest and the best preserved. I'm not sure is each tomb was meant for one body or more. The larger the tomb, the more I wonder how the ancient people handled these heavy slabs. What kind of tools did they use to cut & shape them? So many questions..

This region, part of present day Bagalkot district, was very active during the Neolithic times. There were hundreds of such sites here and surrounding districts however many have been lost over time. Ancient humans here became expert at stone crafting. Their deep interest evolved the designs, technology, skills and talents. The products of that evolutionary process are rock-cut temples, structural temples and other ancillary structures like stepped wells, shelters and arches. Apart from structures stone workers also produced utility tools like ladders, water troughs, grinding stones, etc.

All the walking and climbing had worked up our appetite. We decided to take a break and snack. We had madkikaal sprouts (bean sprouts), banana chips and water. Our canine friends won't eat sprouts, we could only offer them chips.

The next item on the list was Meguti Gudi which was a stone's throw away. As we walked towards Meguti we scanned the area between this hill and Malaprabha where there are several temples, both individual and groups. Below is a snapshot of Google Maps of the area we focused on. I've marked the place where we stood (X) and the four temples with A, B, C & D. A is Boyar Gudi and the remaining are nameless temples, may be the villagers have names for them, need to check during the next visit.

Here's a collage of the four temples. While pictures A, C and D were shot in this trip, B was shot way back 2011. I had seen Boyar Gudi (A) and B in 2011. Here's a short blog post of Boyar Gudi & Huchappayyana Mata. There are close to 125 individual temples in Aihole. For the ancient temple builders Aihole was a laboratory where they experimented different designs. One can find permutations & combinations of various aspects of a temple like orientation of sanctum / entrance; number of sanctums / entrances; pillar designs; vestibule, halls & portico designs; and so on. With so much to see, one cannot really justify one visit to Aihole, it has to be several visits.

We reach the fort like wall around Meguti Gudi. Locals have made a small 'breach' in the wall which serves as a short cut. This is a view of the wall from the gap. This wall runs along the edge of the hill, to be clear this enclosure is situated at the northern end of the hill.

The north-facing Meguti Gudi, positioned almost at the center of the enclosure. Meguti is corrupted form of Megudi ~ Meline Gudi meaning upper temple. Most temple names here are derived from their location or the family / individual who had occupied it before ASI took charge. Going by archaeological findings, this is a Jain Basadi. On the left side wall of this temple is a Kannada inscription dated 634 CE. The inscription praises Chalukyan king Pulakeshi II for his support for this temple construction.

Meguti Basadi as seen through the gateway. Behind me is a long flight of steps which goes down to the base of the hill. About 20 to 25 steps down, is a Buddhist shrine.

This is the two-storey Boudha Chaitya dating back to the VI Century CE. This shrine is a combination of rock-cut & structural i.e. the façade is structural while the inner portion is rock-cut. The square section columns seem simple but they feature some clever designs. Directly opposite to this side of the hill are two temple groups- Mallikarjuna and Jyotirlinga and in a distance are Huchimalli Gudi and Ravalaphadi.

This image of a meditating Buddha is on the ceiling of the upper portico. 

On the northern slope are four smaller temples, of which one is a rock-cut temple. Sadly these temples have been neglected, the surroundings are filthy, and moreover in rainy season its better not to go there. One of the objectives of this visit was to closely see the rock-cut temple but I had to drop it. Here's a collage of the hill slope, two temples are visible and the rock-cut shrine in the inset. These pictures were shot from the road on the following morning as we said bye to Aihole. As I know Aihole has four rock-cut shrines, there could one or two more in any of the groups.

This building in the foreground is a Desai Vaadae. I think during one of the earlier visits with two of my uncles, we had been inside that complex. Besides the Vaadae is Tryambakeshwara group and across the road is Charantimath complex. A decade ago I'd heard about a plan to relocate all residents and make Aihole a exclusive tourist center. However due to technical hurdles the plan is on the backburner. I try to imagine a decluttered Aihole, like how it was between VI and XII Centuries.

Having covered Aihole hill we head back the way we came. Our canine friends were still with us but sadly we did not have anything to treat them with.

This is the southern end of the hill, Pushpa is seen coming out from the gap between the rocks. This spot is almost behind the rock-cut Jaina Basadi we saw in the beginning of this post. I think this is the 'official' ancient entrance to the megalithic site. In fact the ground has stones which are more or less like steps, very convenient - I feel those stepping stone arrangement is manmade.

We were kind of tired because of the humid weather, when its cloudy it feels stuffy and uncomfortable. After a 5-minute rest we loaded our stuff into the car. Just before getting into the car I happened to notice a triangle shaped stone, I picked up out of curiosity and realized it was a stone axe. Wow! I just found an implement made by a prehistoric man. Most likely a man's work, because women were engaged with children and gathering food. This collage shows both sides of the axe head. Its around 10 cm long, 5.5 cm wide and 3 cm thick, very nicely shaped, surely an expert has made it. In the left hand side image, see the top edge which had been sharpened. I think this axe was well used. This finding made my morning!

The next item on our list was Ramlingeshwara group of temples and Galaganatha temple complex, both situated on Malaprabha right bank. This article will continue in the following post... A tour of Vatapi Chalukyan realm - part4.

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