The Trip to Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal

It all started one evening in the middle of May when Pavan called me to put forward his proposal – A tour to the Historic places of Hampi, Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole in North Karnataka. I asked him if there was any special reason for planning for those places. “Maniratnam shot some scenes for his Next movie ‘Guru’”, pat came the reply. The reason (along with the little things I already knew about the places) was good enough for me to accept for the tour, though not at that point ‘coz of the hot summer days.

In the first week of June, we finally planned for the tour - A trip to Hampi, Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole.

My colleague Vijay joined me from Hyderabad. Pavan started from Bangalore. We met at Hospet on Saturday morning. Hospet is about 8.5 hours on bus from Hyderabad. Hospet is a little closer to Bangalore (takes about 7 hours) than to Hyderabad. By the time we reached Hospet, Pavan was ready with a good room in a good Hotel. Hampi is about 12 km from Hospet. At that time we didn’t know where to go after Hampi. We had planned for the starting point of the Tour, but we never knew where we would to catch the return bus to Hyderabad at the end of the tour. This was part of the fun, ‘coz it gave that element of unpredictability to the tour.

After getting ready, we rented an auto for touring Hampi from Hospet. The auto driver promised to show us all the important places in Hampi. The fare was about 300 Rs for the 7-8 hour long tour. We did all the required homework, and had a list of all the places to visit. The day started with the visit to the Virupaksha Temple via the famous Market place, where things were sold during the Krishnadevaraya times. The temple had a list of all the rulers (and the dynasties) who ruled the Vijayanagara Empire. We then visited the famous Musical Temple on a boat. The Guide was able to produce sounds of Mridangam, Dholak, Water, etc. Though the sounds did not really replicate the instruments, there definitely was a noticeable difference in the frequency of each sound. Some parts of the temple are in a dilapidated state. The Guide was pointing to some Sultan (even he was not aware who it was) for the cause. From the temple, we could distantly see a small temple on a hillock. The guide told us that it was that hill where Lord Hanuman was born. We then broke for lunch after visiting the Lord Ganesha temple, Badavi Siva temple (the famous photograph), Narasimha temple. We had a great lunch that day.

In the Post Lunch session that day, we visited places like the Mahanavami Dibba, Pushkarini, Elephant Stable, Queen’s Bath. We had time for a snap or two at all the places. We finished our tour to Hampi by about 4.30 in the evening. We packed our luggage and took a bus to our next destination - Ilkal. Ilkal is about 3.5 hours journey from Hampi. We had a terrible dinner that night (the waiter was listening to the word “Menu” for the first time in his life).

We woke up the next day to travel to Badami. Pavan had to pack his baggage because he had to catch the return bus to Bangalore from Badami that evening. We (Vijay and me) left our luggage at Ilkal.

We started at Ilkal at about 7.30 in the morning and reached Badami by about 9.30 a.m. I remember listening to some all time great Ilayaraja songs on the way on my Ipod. Our first halt at Badami was a restaurant for breakfast. This was where Maniratnam had his breakfast during a shooting schedule of his movie “Guru” (*ing Aishwarya Rai and AB Jr). After the breakfast, we went to the cave temples. There are about four Cave Temples in Badami, with the third one being the best. The temples are of Lord Shiva and Vishnu. For the cave temples, we had to climb some altitude. From the top, we could get a great view of the entire town of Badami. We hired an auto on that day also to visit the three places (Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal). The fare was something like what it was on the first day at Hampi. We went to a Museum after that (in Badami) and had to quickly wrap up ‘coz Pavan was not that interested. In the second snap, you'll find me infront of the Badami cave temples.

From Badami, we went to Pattadakal. It takes about 40 - 45 mins from Badami to Pattadakal on Auto. Pattadkal has a complex of nine spectacular temples. These temples were built by the wife of King Vikramaditya II to commemorate their victory over the Pallavas in 7th century A.D. The place had a mesmerizing effect on me and that was probably the best time of the tours, I would say.

We went to Aihole from there. It takes about 30-45 mins from Pattadakal to Aihole. Aihole is a small village with about 100 temples. By the time we reached the place, it was about 1.30 p.m. We visited the Durgi Gudi and the LadKhan Temple. The Indian Parliament (Delhi) was supposedly designed on the lines of the Durgi Gudi temple in Aihole. After that, we took some time off for Lunch. After the Lunch, we had a small session of Rock climbing and trekking to the Jain Maghuti temple. From the top of the hill, we could see the Aihole temple Complex that has about 30-40 temples. You'll find me infront of one of the Aihole temples in the first snap.

Pavan parted his way from Aihole to get back to Badami. We (Me and Vijay) came back to Ilkal by about 5.00 P.M. The bus to Hyderabad was at about 8.30 P.M. We did not see any logic in waiting till that time at Ilkal. We packed our belongings and started our return journey (First to Raichur and from there to Hyderabad). We reached Raichur by about 9.30 P.M, had our dinner and took a Qualis for the Journey from Raichur to Hyderabad. We reached Hyderabad by about 4.00 A.M on Monday Morning.

In summary, I would say, it was a great experience to travel backwards in time domain. I really look forward to more such Historical Journeys.

My rating for the tour would be 3.5/5.