Nandi Mandapa

An ordinary couple's sculpture on the left pillar of main entrance to welcome the poor people inside the temple

A rich couple's sculpture on the right side pillar of the main entrance to welcome the rich people inside the temple

Padma nidhi - One of the gatekeeper of Kubera, the god of wealth

Sanga nidhi - another gate keeper of Kubera, the god of wealth

The sun god on the roof - On his both sides, his two wives who represent sun rise and sun set are pushing away day and night with bows - beneath them is the sun god's chariot with seven horses representing seven days of the week

Lord Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha in Kailash

The Pancha Pandavas - from left: Bhima (has mace in hands), Yudhistra (sits on an unique throne), Nakula Sakadeva (identical thrones for both) and Arjuna (has bow and sits on radha)

One of the Mahabarata pillars - Middle: Bhishmar on arrow bed - Lower: Bhima and Duriyodhana's mace fight and Duriyodhana hiding in a pond after defeat

Back view Ravana lifting Kailasa and shaking the hill - Since he has 10 heads it looks like a front view 

Another side view

Since this place is used for the coronation ceremonies of Chalukyas, it got the name 'Pattadakal'. Totally 94 kings and governors had been coronated here.

From left side, you can see temples in North Indian style (Nagara), South Indian style (Dravidian) and the hybrid of both styles

Nagara style temple

Dravidian style - Sangameshwara Temple

The Virupaksha Temple - Built by Vikaramaditya II 's chief queen Lokamahadevi in order to celebrate her husband's victory against Pallavas thrice - This temple is considered as the perfect example of how a dravidian style temple should be (Inside pics in next blog post)

Virupaksha Temple - Side view: Peacock style windows

Virupaksha Temple

Mallikarjuna Temple: Inner view - Built by Vikramaditya II's second queen Trilokamahadevi

Mallikarjuna Temple - People with different hairstyles

Mallikarjuna Temple - People with different hairstyles

More than 125 temples are scattered around this village. It was a famous place for education along with Kanchipuram in South India during Chalukyas. It is said that every year 500 temple architects learned in this place.

The Sun God Temple also known as Durg (Fort Wall) Temple - 7th Century - Side View: Believed to be the inspiration for Indian Parliament House

The Durg Temple - Back View: Resembles a Buddhist Stupa

The Durg Temple: The Entrance Pillar - Shows a drunk woman, her man holding her, a dog eating her vomit and her two friends holding the alcohol pots - To remind ppl that alcohol is prohibited in temple premises

The Durg Temple - The doorway - On left side Yamuna on Turtle and on right side Ganga on Crocodile are carved - To purify the ppl when they enter the temple - Above Garuda is carved since it was a symbol of Chalukyas

The Adhisesha

Lord Shiva

Mahisasura mardini - It is said that she got all the powers of Shiva,Vishnu and Brahma to kill the demon - So on left side hands you can see Tirisul, Chakra and Lotus to represent it

The Cottage Temple

Left Side(far): The oldest temple in Aihole, built in 3rd century - Right side(near): built in 5th century

Earlier this temple was used as a meeting place for traders and later modified into a shiva temple. The lookalikes of wooden logs on the roof are made in stone.

Royal Elephants Stables

The Hazar Rama Temple - Exclusively for the King and Queen - Whole Ramayana is depicted on the outer walls

The King's Balance - Used to weigh Gold equal to king which would be distributed to the people. On the left side base, the images of Krishna Devaraya and his two queens are carved

Vittala Temple - Left Side: Mandapa used for wedding; Right side: Stone Chariot and the madapa used for dancing

Vittala Temple - The mandapa used for bajans

Vittala Temple - The Stone Chariot

The music pillars in Vittala Temple - Each set of pillars produce different instrument sounds

Mahanavami Dibba - The platform where cultural events were held during Navaratri/ Dasara festivals

Pushpakarani / Stepped Tank - Inside Royal Enclosure

The stone canal which is used for bringing Tungabadra river water to the pushpakrani and palace

Lakshmi Narasimha - The part with Lakshmi in chest was broken during Muslim invasion

The water on the floor comes from the Tungapadra river

Mustard Seed Ganesha

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi

The Hemakuta Hill - It is believed that Lord shiva burnt Manmatha using his third eye and married Pampa Devi on this hill only

The Virupaksha Temple - Gopuram - Only the lower level is made of stone.

The Krishna Temple built by Krishna Devaraya in memory of his victory against Orissa. The Krishna idol was brought from Orissa and now it's in Chennai Museum.

The underground Shiva Temple - Inner sanctum is flooded with rain water

The ruins of ministers and military commanders' palaces