March 13, 2018

My TripAdvisor Review No.289: Bhuthanatha Temple, Badami.

Beautiful Lakeside Temples.

The Bhuthanatha Temple is another major attraction of Badami, situated on the eastern shore of the Agastya Lake, across from the Cave Temples. One can get a bird’s eye view of the cluster of these temples from the hill where the caves are located, and the view is indeed beautiful.

To get closer to the temples, however, we had to walk through a maze of narrow lanes of Badami town, after parking our car somewhere near the main road. One can also take a rickshaw to the temples, but it would be almost impossible to take your car up close, unless it is a Mini or a Nano.

We first reached the Badami Museum but it had already closed at 5.30 pm. The temples were another 10 minute walk from the museum. The view of the temples and the lake looked mesmerising in the light of the setting sun.

We first saw the Mallikarjuna temple, which lies northeast of the lake. A gardener caretaker showed us around. We were not required to take off our shoes. The bigger cluster of temples on the east side of the lake is the Bhuthanatha temple. There is a Shiva linga inside and a Nandi bull in front. On one side of the doorway is stands Goddess Ganga and on the other side is Yamuna.

Both the temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva and built in sandstone by the Chalukya rulers of Badami, the Bhuthanata temple around the 7th century and the Mallikarjuna around the 11th century so they are at least a thousand years old.

After paying our respects to Lord Shiva and the master craftsmen of the temples we sat for a while on the stone banks of the serene Agastya Tirtha Lake and enjoyed watching the serene sunset.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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