Badami cave temples

The Badami cave temples are a complex of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cave temples cut into the sandstone cliffs of Badami, in the Bagalkot district of northern Karnataka, India. Badami served as the capital of the early Chalukya dynasty, which ruled much of Karnataka from the sixth to the eighth century, and the earliest of the caves date from that century. Cave 3 carries an inscription precisely dated to Saka 500, corresponding to 578 or 579 CE, and dedicated by the ruler Mangalesha, making it the oldest firmly dated Hindu cave temple in India. The four numbered caves and additional smaller caves are rock cut into soft sandstone and blend the northern Nagara and southern Dravida temple traditions in a fusion sometimes called Vesara style. Inside, intricate carvings depict Hindu deities, particularly Shiva and Vishnu, alongside fresco paintings and geometric yantra chakra motifs. The site is part of a tentative UNESCO World Heritage nomination covering the evolution of temple architecture across Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal.