Badami

Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, is a taluk in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples. It is located in a ravine at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake.

Badami is a small town of Karnataka, which was once the erstwhile capital of Chalukyas. The town has been noted for its several cave temples, carved out of rock in the sixth-seventh century AD. Badami was the headquarters of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka in the 6th - 8th centuries. Travel to this magnificent town, situated amidst a ravine between two rocky hills housing the magnificent rock cut cave temples as well as the Chalukyan style structural temples.

Being a region steeped in antiquity, the vicinity of Badami has a plethora of attractions for the touirists. Pattadakal, the second capital of the Chalukyas, hosted important state functions at its prime. Aihole, 46 km off Badami, was an important architectural centre of the Chalukyas. It has numerous Hindu temples belonging the 6th and 7th centuries. The Mahakuta Temple (14 km from Badami), the Naganath Temple (10 km east of Badami), The Banashankari Temple, (50 km off Badami), are some of the prominent ones.