Badami Cave Temples

We visited Badami cave temples during the month of September 2012. We were part of a large group of tourists who were on a 3 day trip to Hospet & surrounding areas to see the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire  as well to visit the magnificent temples at Hampi, Pattadakkal & Badami. We visited Badami on the 2nd day. It was late evening when we reached Badami & the sky was over cast & there was light rain when we reached. Soon the light rain turned into a down pour and we had to take refuge in one of the cave temples. Finally the rain subsided and we took a quick tour of the temples in fading light. The pictures are therefore not as good as I would have liked them to be:
The Badami cave temples are composed of four caves, all carved out of the soft Badami sandstone on a hill cliff in the late 6th to 7th centuries. The planning of four caves is simple. The entrance is a verandah (mukha mandapa) with stone columns and brackets, a distinctive feature of these caves, leading to a columned  main hall (also maha mandapa) and then to the small square shrine or garbha graha cut deep into the cave. The temple caves represent different religious sects. Among them, two (cave 2 and 3) are dedicated to god ^{Vishnu , one ( cave 1) to God Shiva & one (cave 4) to Mahavira}

Steps Leading upto the Badami Cave Temples - And the massive Temple Tank below

Waterfalls from the nearby hills

The rock cut caves

Statue of Shiva carved on the rock - Below another Shiva statue in cosmic pose with 16 hands