Intricate designs of Paigah tombs, Hyderabad

Paigah tombs belong to the members of the Paigah family, loyalists of the Nizams. It is said that members of this family served as ministers, generals and states people under Nizams. Paigah tombs is now a relatively unknown architectural marvel in Hyderabad. I am not a history buff like my mother. In 2010, when my …

Pattadakal and Bhoothnath temple

Day 4 - Pattadakal and Bhoothnath group of temples at Badami See Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal for the entire travelogue. By now, our very good guide Parashuram (Mobile number: +91 94494 15827) knew that we are not morning persons and did not insist upon us reaching Pattadakal by 7am. We reached Pattadakal at around …

Aihole

Day 3 - Aihole, Jain cave temples, and Buddhist temple See Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal for the entire travelogue. The next day, we visited Aihole. Parashuram was there by the time we reached Durga temple. That day, some architecture students had also visited the Durga complex. It is estimated that the Durga temple complex …

Cave temples of Badami

Day 2 - Badami cave temples and museum See Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal for the entire travelogue. Mom was eagerly looking forward to visit the cave temples. We reached by 10:30am. Kalmat, the guide was already waiting for us. There are four cave temples, all carved out of the massive rocks. The cave temples …

Badami, beyond the cave temples

Day 1 - Banashankari and Naganatha temples, Mahakuta group of temples, and others See Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal for the entire travelogue. We arrived at Bagalkot by bus at 3am. Rasool picked us up and we reached Hotel Mayura Chalukya. Manager did not intimate the staff regarding our arrival so there was confusion for …

Trip to Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal

Badami was on mom's travel list since long and it finally happened now. I was moving to a different IT firm and I luckily got a break of 1.5 month in between. I desperately wanted to travel out of Hyderabad. It is almost 2 years of no travel for me. I was stuck in my …

Edict that identified Ashoka

Several rock edicts were discovered with the name Devanam piyadasi (meaning, Beloved servant of the God) and these edicts were scattered across the present-day Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The identity of Devanam piyadasi was a mystery till 1915 when a British gold-mining engineer discovered an edict in Maski. In this edict, the name Ashoka is clearly …

Dilapidated yet beautiful Mudgal fort, Raichur

Mom very much wanted to visit Mudgal fort. She read a lot about this fort. But when we reached Mudgal, we got the same shock we got in Raichur. Not many locals are aware of its rich history. Tourists/visitors seem rare here. Some locals looked at us as if we were aliens and, one lady …