This article is about the Cave-3 of the Badami Cave Complex.
Badami Cave-3 – The Cave with a known Age
We ascend further, passing through a gateway and soon we are in front of cave-3. This cave complex was executed on an ambitious scale. It is the largest, the most elaborate and the most ornate of all Chalukyan caves. The age of this cave is also known with certainty. There is an inscription of Mangalesa, son of Pulakeshin-I, in this cave that dates its creation to 578 A.D, the twelfth year of reign of Mangalesa’s brother Keerthivarman.
The Architectural plan of Badami Cave-3
This north facing cave with extended colonnaded façade, supported by six massive pillars, is spectacularly cut into the cliff.
Like the earlier two caves, this cave also has three major parts – an open verandah, a pillared hall beyond which is a small shrine cut into the rear wall containing the altar for the main statue of worship. The garbhgrih is empty now and the idol of Mahavishnu worshipped here is missing.
The Dimensions of Badami Cave-3
Though the size of this cave is not comparable to the caves of Ellora or Elephanta, it is still of considerable size. It measures seventy feet in length, fifty feet deep and the small shrine or the garbhgrih goes further into the rock for another twelve feet. The general height of the cave in Verandah and the hall area is about fifteen feet.
The reason behind the wide frontage and the shallow depth of these caves is that the width of these cave temples gave maximum light and the depth defined the max space which this opening would efficiently illuminate.
The Ganas at Badami Cave-3
The columns of verandah stand on a plinth. The plinth is divided at its lower portion, into a series of panels filled with pairs of chubby dwarves.
The carvings of these ganas or dwarves are in every possible mood, in lively dancing poses and a few of them are in obscene postures as well.
These ganas are on all temples of that time regardless of whether the temple belonged to Hindus, Jains or Buddhists. The moods and postures reflected in these carvings were totally dependent on the taste and the imagination of the craftsmen.
Mithuna (loving Couple) Carvings at Badami Cave-3
The front square pillars and the rounded pillars with cushion capitals and heavy vertical ridges separate Verandah from the Pillared hall. The outer square pillars have circular medallions with intricate figures within the border.
The brackets on each side of the pillars carry mithunas in amorous poses, attitudes and moods under foliage. These pairs of men and women in courtship and loving embrace, in this cave, usually have dwarf figures attending them. In contrasts to the brackets on the outer side, the brackets of the inner side carry single tall female figures with either one or two attendants.
Mithuna or loving couples are understood to have several meanings. It ranges from an obvious celebration of life’s pleasures to the more metaphorical symbolism of a human soul’s longing for union with the divine.
When I look at these figures, I feel its more of the celebrations of the life’s pleasures in these carvings.
Well, for me these carvings are important as they represents the culture, cosmetics, jewelry and the clothing of the sixth century.
In these carvings, there are royal couples and the working class couples too.
In the carvings of the royal couple, the lady is wearing full-length sarees studded with pearls and the precious stones or the sarees with such exquisite designs. Even their footwear is heavily embellished.
The carving of working class couples shows the sarees of the lady nearing the knee only.
There is a carving of a couple where lady is dancing and lifting her leg quite high and her hands touches the head of the man, as if getting a support or blessing him.
In another one, the couple has their legs entangled in love. In most of these carvings the lady has bangles in her hands. She wears girdles, armbands, waistbands, amulets and crowns.
I find these compositions charming with unsurpassed beauty.
Eight-Armed Statue of Maha Vishnu at Badami Cave-3
The Verandah of the cave is nine feet wide. Four free standing columns with high bases separates Verandah from the main hall.
The main attraction of these caves is a number of gigantic, super-human size figure compositions of several aspects/avatars of Lord Vishnu chiseled into various niches of the cave.
At the entrance towards left on a side-wall of the façade is an eight-armed idol of Maha-Vishnu holding His numerous emblems – Disc (or chakra), Arrow, Mace and a Sword in His right hand and Conch, Shield and a Bow in His left hand. The lowest left hand is on his loins in Katihasta Mudra.
Lord Vishnu is wearing three sets of necklaces, and also waistbands and armbands. The dress is knotted behind the thigh. He is also wearing a belt. The portion of headdress creates a circular frill representing aureole.
A torso of Lord Narasimha is emerging from His conical crown. The idol represents as if the hero is ready for a war. And also He is quite confident of His victory as is evident in His calm, composed, and confident appearance.
Lord Vishnu in Ananta Asana at Badami Cave-3
Towards further right is the statue of Lord Vishnu sitting on thrice-coiled Sheshanaga in Ananta-Asana. Sheshanaga shelters and protects Lord Vishnu under his five-hoods.
This is a four-armed statue of Lord Vishnu. His figure reflects a fleshy masculine form. Lord Vishnu sits on Sheshanaga with a royal ease and a smile on His face. The imposing figure and the space in-front of the idol makes it appear as if the Lord is holding a royal court.
In the idol panel, towards Lord Vishnu’s right is Garuda and on His left is Devi Laxmi who is also sitting with Her hands resting on Sheshanag in quite relaxed demeanor. There are two Chauri bearer girls above Garuda and Laxmi; both of the chauri-girls are protected under snake-hoods.
The front left hand of Lord Vishnu is resting on His calf and the other left hand is holding conch – the characteristic Vishnu emblem. The front right hand is holding an object (its difficult to say what exactly) and in his other right hand is the Chakra.
Lord Vishnu is fond of jewelry and ornaments. In this statue as well He is wearing three necklaces having precious gems. From His left shoulder hangs a thick cord of sacred thread (यज्ञोपवीत) that goes under His right arm.
He is wearing a richly embroidered belt around his loin. A portion of this belt is reaching and touching the first coil of Sheshnag. He is wearing beautiful armlets and bracelets around His arms and wrists. Here also, under the plinth we can see playful little fat ganas.
Four-Armed Statue of Lord Varaha at Badami Cave-3
Turning further right, we see a four-armed statue of Lord Varaha. Just like His other statues, in this also he carries conch and disk his upper two hands. His lower right hand is in confident Katihasta Mudra. In the lower left hand He is carrying a lotus flower, over which stands Bhudevi (earth personified) resting Her hand on His well-built shoulders. Lord Varaha is gazing at Her with love and affection.
The left foot of the Lord is on the coils of Sheshanag. Sheshanag is in human form with the five hoods forming a Halo behind him. On the other side of Sheshanag stands a Chauri-bearer. There are two figures between His legs, one of them is Garuda while the other looks like the demon Hiranyaksha.
On top of the statue two pair of Vidhyadhar couples are approaching Him with reverence.
The inscription of Mangalesa
On the side of this statue is the inscription of Mangalesa about which we talked earlier. This Sanskrit inscription dedicates this cave-temple for the merits of Keerthivarman, the elder brother of Mangalesa. This inscription tells that the village of Lanjisvara (modern day Nandikesava), was given to the temple authorities for the upkeep and maintenance of this temple from the revenue generated from it.
This inscription not only gives the name of its royal patron (Mangalesa), but also mentions that it was consecrated on 1st Nov 578 – A full moon day. This day is also celebrated as the first day of God’s awakening from cosmic slumber.
The precise and the authentic date mentioned in this inscription provide a valuable landmark in the history of rock-architecture. It establishes that this series of cave-temples were among the earliest of its kind (barring Udaigiri in Bhopal and some elementary temple structures in Aihole). However, the high standard of workmanship observed here proves that considerable progress had been made in this form of architecture in this short interval of time.
In all possibility, this inscription next to the statue of large sculpted Varaha is not a coincidence. The Varaha appears on the Western Chalukya emblem that symbolizes the role of the dynasty as the protectors of the earth – the kingdom and their subjects. The message that the Chalukyan dynasty wanted to convey was that they have the blessings of the Varaha incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
Next we move towards the Left hand side of the cave.
Vamana Avatar at Badami Cave-3
Here is another major carving of the Vamana Avatar or Trivikrama or the Virat Swarup of Lord Vishnu. It is quite similar to the one in cave-2. In this carving Lord Vishnu has eight arms. In the right hands He carries Disc, Sword, Mace and Arrow. And in the left hands He holds Conch, Bow, Shield and with His fourth hand He is touching a grimacing face. The raised left foot of the Lord is touching the head of Bali on one side and this face on another side.
Beside Lord Vishnu’s Kirit Mukut is the carving of Varaha Avatar with two other human figures. Below on His right is His vehicle Garuda. In the cave-2 description I wondered that is this person an asura trying to hold Lord Vishnu, so to stop Him from growing. However, with his jewels, his headdress, it is higher possibility that he is Garuda and not an asura. Although, I still wonder that is he really Garuda? The reason for this doubt is that his wings are missing and also his beak is broken, so it’s not easy to say with certainty.
In lower portion of this relief, only umbrella has remained. The statue of Vamana is broken. The generous king Bali is welcoming Vamana; Guru Shukracharya and Bali’s wife are also present. The guru is blinded in one of his eyes. He is still making last ditch efforts to stop Bali not to take sankalpa of full-filling Vamana’s demand.
Even after knowing the outcome, Mahabali promised the Vamana to full-fill his wish. Vamana asked for land equal to his three steps. As soon as His grant was accepted, His size started to increase. In the carving we can notice a demon falling down from his lifted leg, probable he tried to hold Lord’s leg to stop it from growing and fell-down when it was beyond his grip.
The lifted leg of Lord Trivikrama is touching a crowned head. This person is Mahabali. When Lord Vishnu took over earth and heaven in His two steps, He asked Mahabali where he should put his third step. The proud and generous Mahabali offered his head. Lord Vishnu blessed Mahabali by putting His leg over his head and pushed him to Patal-loka with a promise that he can visit his subjects once a year and thus the celebration of Onam.
Four-armed Vijay-Narasimha at Badami Cave-3
Next to this statue is the four-armed Vijay-Narasimha with a smiling, relaxed yet a fierce Leonine head, leaning on His Padma-Gada. Though, the Padma-gada is broken. Beside the mace stands Garuda in human form. The wings of Garuda are clearly visible in the carving. The ornaments of Lord Vishnu are elaborately and crisply carved. On the top side, two pairs of Vidhyadhars are floating with garlands and gifts.
The head of Lord Narasimha has a lotus flower over it. Earlier I wrote about several myths and stories about how the furious Naramsimha was calmed. There is one more added as reflected in the statue. The lotus flower here represents constant application of cold water over Narasimha’s head burning with anger. This accumulated water then resulted in growth of Lotus over His head.
Lord Harihara at Badami Cave-3
On the adjacent sidewall is the statue of Lord Harihara. His Headdress is split in two parts, the matted hairs of Lord Hara are on one side and the kirita mukuta of Lord Vishnu (Hari) is on the other side. The upper left hand of Hari holds Conch, Lord Vishnu’s emblem and the upper right hand holds Parshu (axe) with snakes over it. Lord Shiva’s parshu and also his head-dress carries half-moon over them. The purpose of Harihara carving was to bring harmony between Shaivities and Vaishnavites.
Carvings on the ceiling of Badami Cave-3
All these life-like vivacious statues of Lord Vishnu are well crafted, and aesthetically embellished. I have an eyeful of them.
My eyes now rover towards the ceiling of the cave. The ceiling of the cave is also executed with dexterity. The roof of the cave is divided by cross-beams into nine panels. Each of these panels is intricately carved with sculptures of Shiva, Vishnu, Indra, Brahma, Kama, and Agni.
The carvings on ceiling have two concentric circular forms. The central figure occupies the central circle. There are eight smaller circular frames between outer and inner circular frames. Each of these circles surrounding the central circles have ganas/diggapalas/Vidhyadhars in them.
I notice Varuna with Makara/fishes and other celestial beings.
There is another hall ceiling medallion with Chaturmukha Brahma on goose in the center. Four Diggapala (guardians of the directions) surrounds Him in cardinal directions – Kubera in the north, Yama in the south, Indra on Airawat elephant in the east and Varuna on Makara in the west. Brahma is in the center as he is guardian of zenith and Shesha (not shown in carving) is the guardian deity of below. Vayu, Chandra ( Ishana), Agni and Surya (Nirriti) are guarding the ordinal directions.
In another of these ceiling medallion, Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati are in the center. Ganas surrounds them. Lord Ganesha is also there in one of the surrounding circles.
The charms of all these compositions is unsurpassed. What we also notice is that most of the sculptures and carvings are in the front portion of the cave. The possible reason could be that it was due to the natural light available to the artists and also the artists were aware that even their patrons would be able to appreciate their work only if there is enough light to see the intricacies of those carvings.
Garuda at Badami Cave-3
On the verandah’s eave is an image of flying Garuda. We can recognize him by his spread wings and beak like nose. Artist Nelavalke has signed on the side of this carving. Left of Garuda carvings are traces of mural compositions. These fresco paintings are faded and broken. However, it is among the earliest known evidences of fresco paintings in Indian art.
The façade of the cave also carry the signature of some of the craftsmen – Kolimanchi, Singimanchi and Aju Achar Siddhi.
The floor of the cave has carvings of devotees bowing down in respect to their ishts.
In the end, I will quote beautiful lines from the book Indian Architecture – Buddhist and Hindu periods by Percy Brown:
In contrast to the unassuming yet serviceable frontage, is the treatment of the interior, on the enrichment of which the rock-carver has concentrated his utmost skill so that the spectator, passing from the bright sunlight outside into its darkened pillared halls finds himself bewildered by the wealth of symbolism and mystical imagery which surrounds him on all sides and appears to extend indefinitely into the interior gloom.
This excellent quality and the forms of the sculptures and the decoration, as in the case of the Gupta Temples, emphasize the progress made in the plastic art of the time in comparison with that of the architecture.
These splendid carvings conceal the short comings of the plan as the arrangements of the temples were still unevolved; the correct shape and disposition of its parts not been assured and the inapt proportion of the pillared hall that has the appearance of being truncated.
Indian Architecture – Buddhist and Hindu periods by Percy Brown
References
Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal by George Michelle.
The cave Temples of India by James Fergusson and James Burgess.
The Art of Ancient India Buddhist/Hindu and Jain by Susan L Huntington
Indian Architecture – Buddhist and Hindu periods by Percy Brown