Badami: Upper Shivalaya, North Fort, and Watch Towers

Upper Shivalaya, North Fort, and Watch Towers in Badami, Karnataka, India

Upper Shivalaya, North Fort, and Watch Towers in Badami

Upper Shivalaya, North Fort, and Watch Towers in Badami
The image shows structures on top of northern red sandstone hills of Badami in Karnataka, India. These hills are north of Agastya Lake, and opposite of similar sandstone hills, which are on the south side of this lake. The south-side hills are home to four magnificent rock-cut cave temples. Check these pages: Badami Cave – 1, Badami Cave – 2, Badami Cave – 3, Badami Cave – 4

At the top is an ancient temple, commonly known as Upper Shivalaya, built by the Early Chalukyas in the 6th century CE. Surrounding Upper Shivalaya is a fort rebuilt by Tippu Sultan of Mysore in the 18th century. The two structures below Upper Shivalaya are the watchtowers.

According to the information on the ASI (Archeological Survey of India) plaque, Upper Shivalaya was originally a Vishnu temple, which became a Shivalaya (a temple for Shiva) in the later years. It has sculptural reliefs related to Vishnu and Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu. The idol in the garbhagriha (inner sanctum) is missing.

Related Images
Lower Shivalaya – Located just below Upper Shivalaya and to the east of Malegitti Shivalaya
Yellamma Temple – Located on the west side of the Agastya Lake
Bhuthanatha Temple – Located on the eastern shore of the Agastya Lake
Agatsya Lake – A view from the Badami Caves

Related Pages
Badami
Badami Cave – 1, Badami Cave – 2, Badami Cave – 3, Badami Cave – 4
Durga Temple at Aihole

Copyright © 2019 – 2021 by YatrikaOne. All rights reserved.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Translate »

You cannot copy content of this page

%d bloggers like this: