Banashankari Temple-Badami

Banashankari Temple is a highly revered shrine situated at Banashankari,Badami - the historic capital of Chalukyas.. The temple was originally built by the late Chalukyas of Kalyan. The present temple, built in17th century, reflects typical Dravidian style of architecture, the temple has been considerably modernized in the present times. First we had a grace of goddess Banashankari The presiding deity of the temple is Goddess Banashankari, an incarnation of Goddess Parvati.

This was the second time I was visiting this place, previous visit of mine was futile due to the place being very crowded and i didn't get to see much around the place, so this time i planned to visit Badami and places around me and my brother left from my uncle's place quiet late as it was extremely hot we reached the around 5 in the evening though it was evening the sweltering heat was unbearable.

We had Masala Soda(Goli Soda) a thirst quencher which reminded me of my school days where it was a regular refreshing drink but long forgotten, due to many soft drinks and cola flodding the markets these days our good old soda is long forgotten.

The temple enshrines a black stone idol of goddess, seated on a snarling lion. The goddess is depicted with eight arms after spending some time we came out, Me & my bro climbed nearby beautiful Mantapa which stands opposite of Harida Teerth pond. Harida Teerth is a large pond in front of the temple, is enclosed on three sides by stone Mantapas with inner colonnades.

We climbed that Mantapa sort of help of small holes & supporting stones. This is a 5 stage Mantapa during the festival time lamps are lit. The annual festival held here in January-February is a major draw. During the festival, the temple deity will be placed in her chariot to ride in procession around the vicinity.

We climbed top level of this Mantapa & spent some time till dark, sitting atop the temple and & taking into the beauty of surrounding was really a fantastic experience in this environment where you can meditate for some time and pray to the God peacefully, in case I visit this place again I thought I would sit atop and spend more time in this place, finally on our way back we had our masala soda and tender coconut again and returned home still dazed by the superb architecture and beautiful surroundings....