Alluring Aihole

Aihole is a traveller’s paradise. With its rock cut cave temples, stunning sculptures and rich history, the town with the Chalukyan legacy is nothing short of a marvel, writes Lakshmi Sharath. 

A little girl sits on a cot as sleep hangs over her eyelids. In her bright yellow frock, she looks like a sunflower that has just woken up and is seeking the sun. Her mother is close-by, selling green sprouts, dry channa and curds, while a busload of students just arrive on the scene. I am at the Banashankari Temple near Badami and I pay my respects to the Goddess who was the family deity of the Kalyani Chalukayas. 

Built in the 7th Century, the shrine was later restored by the Maratha chieftain in the 18th Century. Crowds gather and I leave the temple quickly with one last fleeting glance at the Goddess before heading to the town that has borne the Chalukyan legacy since the 5th Century. Aihole or Aivalli was not just their capital, but a commercial centre and a cradle of temple architecture as well.

Heritage complex

The Malaprabha river trickles through a dry bed of rocks, parched by the rays of the sun. The jagged cliffs are behind us as fields take over the landscape. The river is just a collection of many puddles filling up the spaces between the rocks. A pied kingfisher hovers around, looking for its morning breakfast.

It takes me almost an hour to reach Aihole. And monuments fill my eyes the moment I hit the town. There is hardly a house or a market around — just rock cut cave temples, structural temples, stepwells, pillars and inscriptions in various stages of ruin and restoration. Some houses seem scattered around, but they almost seem like an extension of the temples.

The Thryambakeshwara complex, for instance, is amidst a cluster of homes although the twin temple was probably built in the 12th Century. The village, I am told, will be shifted completely to make this town a heritage complex. The ASI Board says that there are more than 125 monuments, some of them as old as 1,500 years. I barely have time for a handful of monuments, although it seems one can spend eternity here.

I start with the Durga Temple, often considered synonymous with Aihole and Chalukyas for its unique design and architectural styles. Built between the 7th and 8th Century, in a fusion of the Dravidian and Nagara styles, the temple’s apsidal design is also known as Gajaprasta, referring to the shape of an elephant’s back.

The walls are filled with numerous sculptures of Shiva and Vishnu. Ironically, the temple is not dedicated to Goddess Durga and no one seems to know the main deity of the temple. It apparently takes its name after a ‘durg’ or fortress that was probably built around it or close-by.

Wondering what is in a name, I visit the oldest temple in Aihole, which seems to be completely deserted. It was used as a hall at one time and then a temple was built by the Chalukyas, dedicated initially to Surya, and finally became a Shivalaya. Today, however, it is known by an unusual name — Lad Khan Temple, after a pious mendicant who had stayed here at one time.

As I wander around, I see a few more temples in this complex. There is Gaudaragudi and Chaktragudi and I am fascinated by the former, which was worshipped by the traders during the Chalukyan period. Standing on an elevated platform, there are 16 pillars here and I’m told that it was probably a Mahalakshmi or a Bhagavathi Temple.

But what really catches my attention is a beautiful kalyani or a stepwell decorated with sculptures on its walls. Standing there, I just watch the sky reflecting in the blue green waters, while some excavations are going on.

Silent beauties

As I walk along, a small gate interrupts me. A petite temple stands inside with an exquisite stepwell built in front of it. I open the gate and enter the Huchchimalli Temple complex. Every wall, pillar, doors and ceiling is dotted with sculptures. The well is deep and figures of deities are carved on the walls as I peer down to see the waters.

The silence is mesmerising, but my moment of awe comes at the next monument. A firangipani tree blooms in the corner while some grass grows around the rocky outcrop that pans out into one of the most beautiful rock cut cave temples I have seen. A column stands in the centre while relief images of Nidhis with their pot bellies are carved right at the entrance along with two guardians who are dressed more like foreign mercenaries with spears on them.

I am standing in front of one of the oldest rock cut cave temples of the Chalukyan era called the Ravana or Ravanaphadi. The 6th Century shrine is a Shivalaya, but it is the larger-than-life sculptures on the walls and pillars that breathes life into this cave temple.

The most outstanding sculpture in the cave is a panel which has a 10-armed Shiva performing the cosmic dance, in the company of Parvati. Surrounding them is a tableau of deities — Saptamatrikas, Ganesha, Karthikeya, Varaha and Brahmi. 

The temple, however, was never completed. My next stop is the Gauri Temple, which was essentially a shrine dedicated to Vishnu, built probably in the 12th Century. It is today the Virupaksha Temple and the name ‘Gauri’ is attributed to one of the female forms that adorns the mantapa of the temple.

Off the beaten track

I leave the town behind, with its giant rocks looking down at me. There is hardly a soul around as we make our way to a rock cut cave temple completely cut off from the tourist circuit.

Carved on a long craggy outcrop and silently perched on a rock is a Jaina cave, carved probably around the 6th to 7th Century.  I climb a small rock and open the door of the cave to find it richly decorated with carvings, some of them not yet completed. You can see carvings of Parshvanatha and Bahubali with female consorts. In the centre is a seated Teerthankara who is flanked by guardians.

I sit on the rocks, outside the cave, looking at craggy cliffs above me. The dark crevices in the rocks seem to have secrets hidden beneath them. The road above takes you up to Meguti Hill where the 7th Century Jain temple stands atop the hillock.

I often wonder what lures me to these monuments — a pursuit of history, or an appreciation of lost heritage, or a desire to romanticise the past, or just to soak in the silence around me. Whatever may be the reason, Aihole has them all.