26th Nov 2005: Aihole

It was dusk when we reached Aihole and the entire heritage site looked wonderful. soaking in the pinkness of the evening sun. While the Durga temple looked luminous as the though the sun streamed a focus on it. It looked resplendent golden. I was stunned by its beauty and at such a moment I am still.

As is seen here the mix of architectural styles gets us guessing. I thought I was entering a stupa when we went into the Durga temple. It is neat sculpturing charachteristic spacing out of large figurines than intricate carvings.

Mahishasur Mardini in Durga temple: you see it in Pattadkal too.

Lad Khan temple : Would you believe this was the home of a Barber?

This temple has Shiv linga but due to the panchayat hall built in people wonder if it was a meant to be a temple or was it home to a barber? I was wondering about the status of barbers in the kingdom. Our guide told us about the barber angle and am trying to find it on records about this temple, not been successful yet.

Here the interlocking of stone is what leaves you spell bound. No concrete was used and the building still stands the test of time, wishing that the barbarians had not touched it, we would have been able to study the structures in their completeness. The jali windows are beautiful allowing just enough light and air for people circumventing the temple.

Long shot of the complex

The excavation and restoration at the heritage site.

Aihole is such a small town. When our bus stopped at the site. The tea stall owner ran to get tea powder so he could get bussiness from us. Tough the tea looked disgusting we bought it coz we knew for another couple of hours we would get nothing.

The bus took off in the direction of Bijapur through bumpy roads and impenetrable darkness. We were to halt for the night in Bijapur. Come back for the next post to read about it.