Badami Fort

Badami Fort occupies a hill about 2 km from the centre of Badami in Bagalkot district. Badami, once called Vatapi, was the Chalukya capital, and the fort served as the royal residence. It was looted and damaged many times, and later rulers kept rebuilding its walls and adding new structures.

A steep flight of steps cut through a large red sandstone outcrop leads up, passing gateways carved into the rock and a number of water reservoirs. Inside are two notable temples, the small two-storeyed Lower Shivalaya on a corner of the hill and the Dravidian-style Upper Shivalaya on the summit, along with ruined buildings, a large underground chamber, big granaries, watchtowers, a mosque-like structure in the middle and a cannon linked to Tipu Sultan. From the top there are views over the caves, Agastya Lake, the Bhutanatha temples and the town below.