The rock-cut Badami Cave Temples were sculpted mostly between the 6th and 8th centuries. The four cave temples represent the secular nature of the rulers then, with tolerance and a religious following that inclines towards Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. cave 1 is devoted to Shiva, and Caves 2 and 3 are dedicated to Vishnu, whereas cave 4 displays reliefs of Jain Tirthankaras. Deep caverns with carved images of the various incarnations of Hindu gods are strewn across the area, under boulders and in the red sandstone. From an architectural and archaeological perspective, they provide critical evidence of the early styles and stages of the southern Indian architecture.

Badami Cave

Badami, today a sleepy little town on a red sandstone ridge, was once the capital of the great Chalukyan Empire that controlled most of peninsular India between the 4th and 8th centuries AD.The Chalukyas are credited with some of the best traditions of Dravidian architecture including an experimental blend of older South Indian temple architecture and the nagara style of north India, which passed into the Dravidian temple-building convention. Rock Caves, Badami

At this site you can see the finest of the early works in that style. There are ruins of temples and rock cut caves much of the exquisite sculpting has survived the two decades since Badami ceased to be the administrative centre of the kingdom. Badami was the capital from 540 to 757 AD, after which the Chalukyans lost out to the emerging power, the Rashtrakutas.

Badami saw a succession of rulers of which the Chalukyas were only the most important. There is architecture and sculpture here from periods ranging as far back as the 7th century AD Pallava rule to as recently as the 19th century Marathas.