Badami Chalukyas - Temple Art and Architecture under the Chalukyas of Badami (6th-8th century CE) - Part II

 

Rock-cut Architecture

“The russet-coloured rocky hills not only acted as impregnable forts at Badami and Aihole but also beckoned the architects and sculptors to make use of these cliffs as the medium of their art expression. It is worth pointing here that the Chalukyas were the first southern power to build huge temples in massive scale in an imperishable material, i.e stone” – Sheelakant Pattar

At a time when rock-cut architecture in the Western Deccan and closer to the coast in western Maharashtra were dominated by prolific Buddhist Viharas and Chaityas, the entry of Chalukyas brought in one of the earliest and impressive rock-cut Brahmanical caves in southern India. What started as rock-carvings that would provide varshavasa for the Buddhist monks led to creation of expansive Chaityas as well as Viharas either at Kanheri or the Ajanta and Ellora caves with royal patronage, support of trade guilds, and a large congregation of monastic order on the ancient trade route. Tucked away from this arena was Badami where four rock-cut temples, one Shaiva, one Jaina and two Vaishnava were created by the Chalukyas, considered their earliest temple building efforts.

If the Udayagiri caves of the Guptas in present day Madhya Pradesh dated to 382-401 CE the period of Chandragupta II’s rule were the earliest Brahmanical cave shrines, the next phase of Brahmanical caves came up at Badami.

To quote from the ‘History and Culture of Indian People – Classical Age’ edited by R.C.Majumdar – “Compared to the earlier shrines at Udayagiri the progress in the shrines at Badami seems to have been considerable. Each of the shrines was probably provided with an open fore-court which leads in succession to the pillared verandah, the columned hall, and lastly to the small square sanctum cells cut dep into the rock at the far end of the hall. The façade is comparatively plain, and but for the pillars of the verandah and a long frieze of sculpture at the stylobate, no decorative or architectural effect has been attempted. The interior, however, is very rich on account of the varied designs of the pillars and the profusion of sculptures and carvings which appear on all sides”.

 

As quote above and seen in the pictures here the cave temples at Badami have an open courtyard in front of the caves, contain a sanctum, a pillared hall and a veranda, high basement embellished with sculptures of ganas, façade marked by row of four pillars and two pilaster in all the caves except Cave III, which has six pillars and two pilasters. The veranda and the pillared hall are with a row of pillars with blind bays in extreme sides, massive square pillars. The sanctum is at a higher level than the pillared hall, and the walls of the veranda leading up to it are carved with massive sculptures and even the ceilings are decorated. Cave II and III also have traces of paintings.

“The Early Chalukyan monuments bridge the transition from rock-cut excavation to free-standing construction beginning with the cave-temples in Badami and Aihole in the second half of the 6^th century,” says Geroge Michell.  

The natural rock formation helped Chalukyas build an impregnable fort at Badami in 543-44 CE, during the reign of Pulikesi I and also use the extensive rocks around the fort to create the rock-cut temples on one side and free standing temples on the other side. On the south fort side as one climbs up the clearly laid out steps are the Caves numbered 1 to 4 going from bottom to top, though the chronological sequence of their excavations are not known. But, apart from the architectural and sculptural greatness of these four caves, historically too the inscription on Cave 3 is significant as it makes these Badami caves one of the earliest dated Hindu cave temples of Deccan.

“The skills and forms of rock architecture developed at existing art centres like Ajanta was applied and elaborated in the excavation of rock-cut cave temples at Aihole and Badami. While the earlier Hindu caves are rudimentary in design, those under the Early Chalukyas show adaptation of temple plan on a much larger scale, implying development of cave-architecture. Instead of an ante-chamber attached to a cella (garbagriha), the spatial layout of the rock-cut caves at Badami had sanctum attached to mantapas with or without lateral shrines and, while that at Aihole showed a trikutachala (three sanctums) temple layout,” lauds a citation on UNESCO World Heritage site recommendation.

Cave 1 is dedicated to Shiva, as the first striking sculpture one sees outside the cave the unique18-armed Nataraja, speaking for its great composition and also as one of the earliest depictions of dancing Shiva, flanked by Nandi and Ganesha – Gupta period icon at Sirpur, and almost unrecognizable  Mogalarajapuram cave depiction in Andhra Pradesh from the time of Vishnukundins. Hariahra, Ardhanarisvara, and a sculpture of a Dvarapaala holding a trident are other notable sculptures of this cave. Among other architectural points to be noted in the cave are the columns, the ceiling brackets and also smaller sculptures like the flying celestials that later is seen very decoratively used at Ellora’s Kailash temple.

Cave 2 dedicated to Vishnu shows the veranda walls carved with Trivikrama and Varaha sculptures. The ceilings of the veranda is decorated with the reliefs of Gandharvas, Matsya-Chakra and Vishnu. Traces of paints on the ceilings and inner walls are proof to the fact that the cave was originally fully painted in different colours and designs.

Two sculptures to notice in this cave are the narrative panel of Vishnu as Trivikrama, and the Varaha. The Trivikrama panel tells the story of the avatara, incarnation – Vishnu disguised as Vamana visits Bali underneath a royal umbrella, the demon king and his court are shown standing to the right of the dwarf. The action itself is in the main part of the panel where Vishnu is seen taking the giant step to defeat Bali, and latter’s fall shown in his upside down figure below Vishnu’s outstretched foot. Then Bali is seen clinging to Vishnu’s feet in submission. Next is Varaha, Vishnu’s avatar as boar rescues the earth goddess, Bhu Devi, the action of her rescue shown as she bends down towards the boar, drapes her right arm over the end of the boar’s muzzle.

 “…that Chalukya art was very creative in its own right. Perhaps one may even say that the Chalukya sculptors were among the greatest creators of Hindu iconography. Many figures of Hindu mythology were portrayed by them for the first time in beautiful stone sculptures along the lines of the Late Gupta style. Three beautiful cave temples were cut out of the rock near the fortress of Badami and decorated with a wealth of sculptures. The dancing Shiva and Vishnu-Trivikrama, who recovers the universe from the demons in his dwarf-incarnation, were figures which directly influenced Pallava art as shown by the sculptures of the ‘Rathas’ at Mahabalipuram which were cut out of solid rock at the behest of the Pallavas soon after they had captured Badami in 642,” say Hermann Kulke, Deitmar Rothermund in ‘A History of India’. 

There are two Trivikrama panels as we would see the one in Cave 3 too now. Art historian Dr R.H.Kulkarni says the Trivikrama depiction here is the second earliest in south India. Artists have also used their freedom in conceptualizing the variations in depictions in the two different Varaha sculptures. 

Cave 3 is the largest and most elaborate among Badami’s caves and also as seen earlier historically significant due to the inscription dated 578 CE that shows the cave was excavated by Mangalesa, younger brother of Kirtivarman I to consecrate God Vishnu. Another inscription also calls the cave as Mangalese Kalmane (Mangalesa’s rock-temple). This is a large cave measuring 70 feet in width and 50 feet in depth with gigantic sculptures. The Trivikrama in the cave is known for its fine composition depicting many characters involved in the avatara, Vamana, Bali, Sukracharya, Namuchi, Jambavan, Garuda, Chandra, and Varuna. There is a Varaha sculpture in this cave too, and other prominent ones are the Narasimha, Vishnu seated on the serpent Anantasayana and Harihara.

This cave also has finely decorated bracket figures on the façade pillars, and there are a set of 33 sculptures of note. “The figures are rather tall and graceful … the bracket figures prepared by different sculptors reflect the aesthetics of the age. These bracket figures became an inspiration for the bracket figures during the subsequent periods, especially under the Hoysalas as can be seen in the Chenna Kesava temple at Belur and the Hoysalesvara temple at Halebid,” notes S.Rajasekhara ‘Early Chalukyan Art and Architecture’.

Use of Puranic episodes and scenes from epics can also be seen in the miniature narrative sculptures. Episodes from Krishnavatara, Prahlada’s story, Samudra Manthan, Parijata Apaharana are narrated in detail.

The smallest of the caves, and also the last Cave 4 is a Jaina cave, attributed to the period of Mangalesa. The original sculptures in the cave were of Bahubali and Parsvanatha. There were a few sculptures of Yakshis added during the time of Later or Kalyani Chalukyas. An element of note in the cave are the counchant lions on whose backs the façade pillars are based. “They placed the shaft of the pillar on the head of the seated lion. This type of pillar was popular, both in cave and structural architecture, under the Pallavas from the time of Narasimhavarman I,” observes Rajasekhara.

Five caves of Aihole

Aihole, Aryapura or Ayyavole famous as the earlier capital of the Chalukyas and also the influential merchant guild of 500 members, Ayyavole Ainnuru as they came to be called exhibits an eclectic mix of temples, Jain Basadis, and going back in time dolmen caves and pre-historic monuments. Here the strength of Chalukyan kings alone are not in display but also the influence wielded by the ‘500’ merchant guild as some historians attribute the continuation of cave architecture along-side the experiments in structural temples to the influence of these merchants. 

Cave temples at Aihole is said to have been under construction even as Badami was witnessing cave excavations. In all five caves were excavated by the Chalukyans at Aihole, two Shaiva, two Jaina and one Buddhist, and among these the large and important ones are the Meena Basadi Jain cave and the Ravanaphadi Hindu cave.

The only Buddhist cave that is found at Aihole which was once mistaken for a Jaina cave is the oldest of the rock-cut structures at Aihole, ascribed to the date of Pulikesi I or beginning of Kirtivarman’s rule. The Buddhist cave, half structural and half rock-cut is a storied Chaitya wherein the verandas of the lower and upper chaitya are structural in character. There are number of miniature reliefs on the door jambs of the sanctum and the ante-chamber, and the reliefs depict incidents from Jataka stories.

Meena Basadi which gets its name from the sculpture of a Yaksha holding a fish in his hands was probably excavated in the middle of the 6^th century CE. This Jaina cave historians estimate to pre-date the Badami Jaina cave. Like the Buddhist chaitya this cave too has a few structural elements like the front wall and the entrance of the cave. There are two notable panels here and like Badami depict Parsvanatha and Bahubali. The sculptural depiction of Bahubali is supposed to have been standardized from this representation, standing in samabanga, with ant-hills and creepers growing over him, the kayotsarga stage that became a standard across Karnataka later and seen in the giant Gomateshwara at Sravanabelagola. The Parsvanatha panel is left incomplete and the sculptural marks of the incomplete frieze are clearly visible to date showing the magnificence in composition. 

 The Ravanaphadi cave came late in the early Chalukyan period, and it is the iconographic detail of the Varaha where Bhudevi sitting on his left shoulder is taken to indicate that the cave was probably excavated in the beginning of the seventh century. There is a large, graceful sculpture of ten-armed Nataraja on the right side cell witnessed by Saptamtrikas, Parvati, Ganesh, Kartikeya, Nandi and Bhringi.

 Appendix:

Adding some of the unique sculptural representations from Badami caves here. One, the Harihara with their consorts, Dr Kulkarni mentions as the first in history, second, the smaller Narasimha sculpted on top of the Vishnu murti, the Mahishasuramardini unique to south with the Devi lifting the tail of the demon.