Pattadakal Group of Monuments

On the banks of the Malaprabha River in northern Karnataka, a cluster of sandstone temples records a moment when the two great traditions of Indian temple building met and were tried side by side. Pattadakal was a sacred and royal site of the early Chalukya kings, who ruled much of the Deccan from nearby Badami, and in the seventh and eighth centuries they raised here a group of shrines in which the curving northern towers of the Nagara style stand next to the stepped, pyramidal towers of the southern Dravida style. That rare juxtaposition is why UNESCO inscribed the Group of Monuments at Pattadakal on the World Heritage List in 1987.

The name is usually explained as the stone of coronation, and the town did serve for Chalukya coronation ceremonies. The setting was chosen with care: just upstream the Malaprabha turns to flow northwards, towards the Himalaya, which in Hindu tradition makes a river especially holy. Ten major temples survive, nine Hindu and one Jain, along with smaller shrines and plinths. The Galaganatha and several neighbouring temples follow northern models, while the Sangameshvara, Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha temples are built in the southern manner. The finest of all, the Virupaksha temple, was commissioned around 740 to 745 by Queen Lokamahadevi to celebrate her husband Vikramaditya II's victories over the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram. Its plan echoes the Kailasanatha temple of the defeated Pallava capital, and it later served in turn as a model for the great rock-cut Kailasa temple at Ellora. It is still a living place of worship.

What makes the temples so rewarding up close is their carving. Pillars, walls and ceilings are covered with scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana, with fables from the Panchatantra and with dancers, lovers and guardian figures, all worked in the warm, reddish local sandstone. Most temples are dedicated to Shiva, though Vishnu and the goddess also appear in the narrative panels. Pattadakal forms a historic triangle with Aihole, about 10 km away, where Chalukya architects made their earliest experiments, and Badami, the dynasty's capital with its cave temples cut into red cliffs.

Getting there

Pattadakal lies in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, about 12 km from the small town of Guledagudda and some 22 km by road from Badami, whose railway station is the usual rail approach. Hubballi Airport (HBX) is about 100 km away in a straight line, roughly a three-hour drive; Aihole is a short drive along the Malaprabha valley.