A trip to Badami: Badami Fort, formerly known as Vatapi Fort Bhavani Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India, on the summit of a cliff and just opposite to the cave temples of Badami. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from CE 540 to 757. Badami Fort is spread over the hills in two parts, North and South, with the Agasthya Lake in between. The Badami North Fort is considered to be the principal fort situated on the northern part of the Agasthya Lake. This fort was constructed by Pulakeshi, the Chalukyan King in the year 543 A.D. There is a pathway, paved with red sandstone and smoothed to a marble finish, cut right through the rock formation. On either side of the pathway, steep rocks rise to more than a hundred feet. The forts have many cave temples within them. The rooms and corridors are carved out of big rocks and clad with red sandstone. There are watchtowers, tunnels, prisons, bedchambers and temples within the forts. Some caves which are 10 feet high are supported by ornate black granite pillars. The pillars and walls are richly decorated with an assortment of celestial beings. The temples (dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva) were carved out of 100 odd feet of rock is something of an engineering marvel of the era. The North Badami Fort was raided and obliterated in the year 642 A.D. by the Pallavas and presently the gate and the walls of the fort are possibly the sole traces of the formerly magnificent architecture. A TO Z INDIA ● JANUARY 2023 ● PAGE 8