Don Curry gets a temple fever

Don Curry is a diligent traveler. Before a trip, he reads all available travel guides and then wants to see and experience everything he has read about. Sometimes, however, this pushes him to his limits, and sometimes even beyond.

At the beginning of the day, Don Curry treated himself to a rather late breakfast at 9:00 a.m. Watermelon slices, toast, butter, and jam were quickly spread out in front of him, and he also ordered a black tea and two fried eggs. Then he was ready to go! Three small towns were on the itinerary for today: Badami, Pattadakal, and Aihole, all former capitals of the mighty Chalukya Empire in early medieval India.

Prince had asked fellow drivers for advice and suggested starting in Pattadakal. Don Curry didn't mind the order, as long as he would get to see all the important temples. Pattadakal alone has around 40 ancient temples, some of which are only 2x2 meters and would simply be called shrines elsewhere. By the way, when he bought the ticket, they asked him about his nationality again, as Indians only pay one-twentieth of the foreigner rate of 500 rupees (about €8).

In the pleasant warmth of the morning, Don Curry curiously wandered from one temple to another. Each one had its own uniqueness, some were in the North Indian Nagara style, while others represented South Indian Dravidian architecture. It all seemed like an experimental field for future builders and artists. Here, they were allowed to test which building style and design had the most impact. Some of the temples were from the 5th to 7th century AD, but they appeared anything but archaic or primitive. The Chalukya artists started at a high level and continued to build and refine. The most impressive temple, which was still used for rituals, was absolutely grandiose.

During Don Curry's visit, some priests were cleaning and venerating the new Nandi statue with liquid butter and perfumed oils. Inside the temple, every pillar shone in unique splendor, while the few rays of light that fell into the room through the artful window openings created a mysterious atmosphere.

A last temple was located slightly outside the site and therefore was hardly visited. But Don Curry persistently made his way through the small village of Pattadakal, which consists of white houses and narrow lanes. The whole family life takes place on these lanes: cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, taking care of the animals, looking after the children... - a completely public life in the simplest conditions. Don Curry felt slightly uncomfortable due to his uninvited intrusion into so many personal spaces. In the end, he realized that he just needed to take a short walk along the edge of the village to reach the temple.

Two guards were stationed here in their lonely, hardly disturbed duty and immediately pointed out the magnificent ceiling sculptures that were the special feature of this temple.

After almost two hours of careful exploration of all the Pattadakal temples, it was now time to visit Aihole, the oldest capital of the Chalukya Dynasty, about 10 km away. To his horror, Don Curry read in the guidebook that over 100 temples had been preserved in Aihole. By now, the midday heat had arrived, and Prince only looked for shady parking spaces and kept the engine running to be able to use the air conditioning without any danger.

While the village of Pattadakal had seemed simple but well-maintained, Aihole made a dirty and primitive impression. Yet, this village had incredible potential to become a real gem of Indian tourism. The over 100 ancient temples were scattered throughout the village, with the villagers building their houses adjacent to or leaning against them. Water buffaloes, cows, goats, and pigs roamed freely among the temples, leaving their mess everywhere.

Don Curry first explored some smaller temple complexes on the outskirts of the village, and he discovered sensational statues and sculptures in some of them. He then continued to the fenced area of the most significant temples, where Don Curry had to reveal himself as a foreigner again when buying the ticket. About twenty temples were closely situated here, but Don Curry gradually developed a certain aversion towards temple structures of all kinds. He arbitrarily ignored some of the less interesting-looking buildings.

He dragged himself more and more slowly at a temperature of 34°C towards the most important and unusual temple of the local temple parade, the Durga temple, dedicated to the goddess of death and love. Numerous excellent sculptures of couples facing each other gave this temple a particularly human character; the almost complete darkness inside impressively emphasized the death aspect of this very ambivalent goddess, Durga.

At the end of this visit, perhaps his 75th temple today, Don Curry just wanted to return to the hotel. He still knew about some interesting structures around Aihole, including a magnificent dolmen, but a full-blown temple phobia prevented him from any further research. There was still plenty of time. But even Prince was not at all unhappy about the unexpected return.

In the hotel, Don Curry strengthened himself with deep-fried mushrooms in sesame batter, 2 papadams with spice paste, and a very peculiar coleslaw consisting simply of white cabbage and pineapple pieces with some brown sugar, with no trace of mayonnaise. Don Curry allowed himself an hour of rest to digest the light lunch and the heavy temple fare of the morning.

But then he was able to muster the energy to at least admire the four famous cave temples of Badami, which were also commissioned by the Chalukya kings. Accessible via many steps, all the temples were carved into the same giant rock face at different levels. While the lower temples still attracted a large number of visitors, Don Curry virtually had the fourth cave temple, a Jain temple, all to himself. The delicate attention to detail and sheer size of the sculptures carved directly from the rock finally reconciled Don Curry with the grandeur of the Chalukya temples. But remember: Too many temples spoil the joy of traveling! However, Don Curry is not sure if he will keep this newfound principle in mind next time.

Dinner was not one of the most delightful ones on the trip. As several small groups had arrived, the dining veranda was well-filled, and the service staff and kitchen seemed slightly overwhelmed with it, as everything Don Curry wanted to order was not available today. The slightly frustrated waiter eventually urged him to order the same dishes as yesterday – except for the soup, which wasn't available today. Nevertheless, it tasted good, and Don Curry looked forward to a relaxing night in which he promised himself not to dream about Chalukya temples...