Why devotees come here
Durga Temple in Aihole, Karnataka, was first dedicated to Surya, the sun deity. It is the largest of more than 120 temples in the village and a mature example of Badami Chalukya architecture.
The temple was first dedicated to Surya, the sun deity. An inscription says Kumara built it for Aditya, another name for Surya. It has the most embellished and largest relief panels in Aihole. Its name came later. After the 13th century a fortified lookout, or durg, was built on top of it, and the name Durga stuck. Today the temple draws both tourists and scholars, and it is part of a pending UNESCO World Heritage Site application.
The temple has been dated to between the late 7th and early 8th century, in the early Chalukya period. Karnataka Tourism groups its architecture with the Western Chalukya temples of Badami, Aihole and Halebeedu. The British artillery officer Briggs rediscovered the ruins in the early 1860s. The sanctum has an apsidal plan, which is rare among early Chalukya architecture. It fuses with a square mandapa. A tower over the sanctum points ahead to the taller shikharas and vimanas of later temples.
The sanctum is empty. The main carvings are on the entrance pillars, the pillars of the mukhamandapa and the first two bays of the ambulatory. The carved ceiling panels were removed, and they are now a feature item in the National Museum, New Delhi.
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