Location: Located at a distance of about 500km from Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. History: The place Badami was founded in the late 540 AD by Pulakesian early ruler of Chalukyas. Badami was once the capital of Chalukyan Empire between 4th to 8th centauries, later which the Chalukyans lost out to the establishing power, the Rashtrakutas. The Chalukyan rulers, celebrated as great sponsors of the literature, arts and architecture, The Chalukyas are reputed with some of the best culture of Dravidian architecture which includes an experimental blend of the nagara style of north India and older South Indian temple architecture. About the place: Badami also called Vatapi was the center of ancient Chalukyan kingdom. Badami, today a sleepy small town on a red sandstone ridge. The archaeological museum of Badami has Nandi, Lord Shiva's bull, as museums entrance. This museum will be close on Fridays. It hosts local sculptures like Lajja-Gauri images of fertility culture. There are four famous cave temples in Badami: Cave 1: The oldest Cave has stunning carvings of Lord Shiva in his Nataraja pose, dancing the predictive tandava. There are also sculptures of the god in the Ardhanarishvara form where it is depicted as half woman-half man, the half woman representing his wife Girija Devi. Yet another carving is of Harihara, a blend of two great gods where the left carving depicts Lord Vishnu (Hari) - the preserver and the right represents Lord Shiva (Hara) - the destroyer. Cave 2 and 3: dedicated entirely for the preserver, Vishnu. Cave 4: Has a picture of Adinath and Jain tirthankara. Occasion: A number of annual temple festivals are held in towns near Badami. The annual temple festival, held at Banashankari, in the month of January and February is worth visiting; so are the Mallikarjuna Temple Festival and Virupaksha Temple Car Festival held in Pattadakal during March-April. Right time to visit: February-October Accessibility: About 150kms from Belgaum airport. Badami is on the Sholapur-Hubli rail route. 500 kilometers from Bangalore 30 kilometers from Bagalkot 128 kilometers from Bijapur 132 kilometers from Hubli Local Transport: One can easily get carts from railway station, bus stand. Tourists can also taxis, auto-rickshaws or get bicycles on hourly basis for rent. Near By places: Pattadakal, a half an hour drive from Badami, which covers the Virupaksha Temple, the Papanath Temple and the Mallikarjuna Temple which will look glorious during the month of January. Aihole, two half drive from Badami, the one who loves temple architecture should compulsorily watch this place.