Pattadkal is situated on the banks of the Malaprabha river. Though at one time it was a temple town where the Chalukya kings got crowned now it is a sleepy town which wakes up only to the tourist buzzing in the temple complex. Pattadkal was home to the Chalukya family dieties. The complex is now a World heritage site.
The first thing that strikes you here is the meeting of the architecture styles from the North & South India that is known as the Hemakuta style . There are a group of 10 temples here the ceilings, walls and pillars are adorned with beautiful sculptures. It is said that the Chalukya style of architecture achieved its peak in Pattadkal.
We visited one temple which is still functional, while the others are in ruins as they were desecrated by the muslim intruders. There are 2 beautiful large Nandis carved in green granite that even today shine like just polished.
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A lot of rehabilitate work is in progress here so we were not able to explore all the temples from inside. My favorite is ofcourse the Virupaksha temple.
It was late afternoon and we had one more destination to reach before proceeding to Bijapur for the night's stay so we moved towards Aihole.
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A lot of rehabilitate work is in progress here so we were not able to explore all the temples from inside. My favorite is ofcourse the Virupaksha temple.
1 comment:
I was under the impression that it was the Gupta school of architechture .. thanks for that info Anjali. :-)
Guess the Guptas did not reach that far. It is indeed sad the way temple architechture in our country has been destroyed by invaders all the time.
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