Saturday February 4 - Hospet to Badami

Today was another beautiful, hot and sunny day. The sky is relatively clear in this part of the country I suspect due to lack of industrialization. Badami was once capital of the Chalukuyan Empire which ruled much of central Deccan between the 4th and 7th centuries AD. But the town of Badami today would be unrecognizable to its former inhabitants. It is a skeleton of a town; gray, undistinguished, and possibly the dustiest place I've ever been to. I now understand the value of having yards and yards of sari material to pull across your face to screen out smoke and dust particles. But more about dust later on.

In the morning we drove to the countryside to see four cave temples cut into the sandstone hillside in the early 6th c. The cave temples run along the right side of very large water tank. Cave 1 is reached by climbing 40 steps, has Shiva in his manifestation as Nataraja with 18 arms and seen in 81 dance poses.  Cave 2, on a higher level, has reliefs of Varaha and Vamana and Cave 3 is dedicated to Vishnu. According to a Kanada inscription unique to Badami, this cave was excavated in 578 AD and has numerous sculptures including a huge reclining Vishnu.   Cave 4 is the only Jain cave and was possibly excavated 100 years later.

Many women washed clothes in the water tank. We admired interested large patchwork quilted prices drying on the steps. Lakuma explained that they are used as sleeping mats. The women were also washing pots, pans, plates and cups in the tank. We circled the vast tank making stops at small temples and at a museum. At one point we heard a yelp and discovered that the women had run away because of an "attack" of makek monkeys who were attracted by the pots and pans and who were looking through them hoping to find food. Monkeys know that pots and pans mean food!

In the afternoon we had quite an adventure going to a temple. Lakuma bought a sari last night that she wanted to have blessed by a priest before giving it as a gift to her mother in law. She also wanted us to see a special gathering of people who come together for a celebration once per month. On the one hand it was a photographer's dream; colors, stalls selling temple items, accoutrements for bullock carts and vehicles, food, cooking items, pseudo-antique statues and devotional items. On the other, it was perhaps the filthiest, dustiest, most fly-infested place I've ever been to and it was hard to put my fan down long enough to photograph. I'm not sure why this particular place was so thick with flies, both inside the temple and out, because we've been to many and this place was unbelievable.

Thanks to Lakuma's help I did acquire a wonderful temple trinket: a small Shiva Linga that devout Lingites (a sub-sect of Shivites) keep with them at all times as a kind of cyanide pill. In the old days (centuries ago) if a Lingite was captured by an enemyand about to be killed or even if they had lost a philosophical debate about their religion, rather than fail in the eyes of Shiva they would swallow this small linga and commit suicide. The area around the Shiva temple contains 100s of large linga under portals used by visitors to have lunch and rest.

Saw a group of history teachers and students sitting in a circle on the ground having lunch. It was interesting to see men sitting on one side and women on the other. Lakuma says this separation stems from the tradition of women serving guests first, then elders, then men, then children and last themselves. We saw a water tank within the temple complex where young boys learn to swim. I videoed fathers teaching sons to swim and boys showing off their swimming and diving abilities.

Afterward we walked through the choking, dusty streets of Badami to see the market area. It was late afternoon and so not many villagers were shopping but shopkeepers were still hard at work. My favorite was a chili grinding shop that smelled wonderful and another that mixes chili powder with other spices and pounds it into a masala. It was interesting to see a large electronic mortar and pestle at work. Chili dust wafted down the street and we sneezed and coughed. Returned to the fabric shop to pick up purchases.

Moon over Badami.

Dinner with Lakuma. She introduced us to a delicious appetizer of peanuts with onion, chili and lime. Ate gobi, vegetable curry, lemon rice, dahl fry, papadum.