Pattadakal

Karnataka > Bagalkot > Pattadakal

Pattadakal saw the Badami Chalukyan art in its full bloom. It is 22 km away from Badami and 514 km from Bangalore. The best temples like the Virupaksha (Trailokeshwara) and the Mallikarjuna (Lokeshwara) were built by the queens of Vikramaditya II (734-44 A.D.) in memory of his three victorious march against Kanchi, the Pallava capital. These magnificient temples with their nicely engraved lively figures on walls and the massive square pillars are in sand stone. Pattadakal itself was known as Kisuvolal ('Red Town') as the sand stone and soil here are reddish in colour. The Sangameshwara, Papanatha, Chandrashekhara, Jambulinga and Kadasiddeshwara are the other major temples here, and Pattadakal has also a Jaina basadi of the Rashtrakuta times with two beautiful elephants in its front. The Galaganath temple here which is dilapidated, has curvilinear (rekhanagara) shikhara. This place is included in the World Heritage Series by the UNESCO.