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Deccan Heritage Foundation

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The Deccan Heritage Foundation is a charitable organisation that works to preserve, restore and a pr

17/09/2026

At the heart of the DHF’s work is creating meaningful ways for people to engage with the heritage around them. In Anegundi, we partnered with the local Chandrakala Bhoomi Trust to launch a dance residency at Gagan Mahal, a 16th-century Vijayanagara pavilion that we restored in 2022 and continue to manage under the Government of Karnataka’s ‘Adopt a Monument’ scheme.

Led by choreographer Anjana Devi, Gagan Mahal welcomed its first dancers-in-residence, Pallavi and Shilpa, who performed a new contemporary piece inspired by the architecture and atmosphere of the pavilion. Alongside the residency, Chandrakala Bhoomi Trust has also been running weekend dance classes for children. This wonderful initiative reflects our belief that the performing arts can be powerful tools for awareness, education and engagement among young people.

The dance classes have become a gathering in themselves, with local women preparing home-cooked food to share at the end of each session. Gagan Mahal is becoming a place where people from the village can gather, learn, create and spend time together, and an active part of everyday life in Anegundi.

[Vijayanagara Empire, Gagan Mahal, Pavilion, Architectural Restoration, Heritage Conservation, Dave Residency]

02/09/2026

These before-and-after photographs trace the restoration of the Nagakunda Stepwell, Sudi, in the Gadag district of Karnataka, a recent restoration project completed by the DHF that makes a Chalukya-period water management system functional again. Built below ground, the stepwell was until recently covered with debris and vegetation.

Under the Government of Karnataka’s ‘Adopt a Monument’ Scheme, we restored the structure over the course of a ten-month conservation project and water revitalisation, in partnership with Heritage Matters and the Water Literacy Foundation bringing it back to its former glory. Today, the Nagakunda Stepwell is once again a functional water source and open to visitors as a working stepwell with stewardship by the Gandipet Welfare Society, a zero-waste NGO.

Swipe to see the site’s transformation.

Photographs by Surendra Kumar.

[Architectural Restoration, Heritage Conservation, Baoli, Stepwell Conservation, Kalyana Chalukya Dynasty]

31/08/2026

Always look up! Carved on the ceiling of Cave 1 at Badami is this imposing coiled nagaraja, part of the extraordinary sculptural vocabulary of Early Chalukya temple architecture.

Architectural historian George Michell, author of the DHF guidebook on Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal, writes that “nowhere is the glory of Early Chalukya sculptural art better displayed … than in the splendid ceilings” of these temple interiors.

In this photograph, taken on our four-week-long Deccani Studies Program, the serpent king nagaraja encircles a human torso with flying couples at either side. Around it, the ceiling is richly worked, with part-fluted columns, cushion-like capitals and brackets fashioned as open-mouthed makaras, disgorging human figures and yalis.

The nagaraja is part of this wider repertory of decorative motifs and recurs across sites, including the Durga Temple at Aihole, Naganathakolla – midway between Mahakuta and Banashankari – and the Mallikarjuna Temple at Pattadakal.

Follow the nagaraja across Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal with our comprehensive travel guidebook as your trusting companion - available in print and digital editions from the DHF Bookstore. Download the e-book instantly to your phone or tablet and take the Deccan with you.

Photograph by Sai Charan Palakurthi (Charan).

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[Temple Architecture, Temple Carvings, Rock-cut Architecture, Cave Temples, Chalukya Dynasty, Early Chalukya, Incredible India]

25/08/2026

Field Notes | Some more photographs from our first visit to Mandu, Madhya Pradesh, for our new DHF guidebook! This is a wonderful collaboration with Evolve Back Resorts to commemorate the opening of their newest resort, Evolve Back Jhabri Fort, Mandu.

Continuing our initiative of publishing comprehensive and richly illustrated guidebooks, the DHF’s forthcoming publication focuses on Mandu, the medieval capital of the Malwa Sultanate, exploring its vibrant yet turbulent 150-year history across the 15th and 16th centuries. Set amidst a gorgeous landscape of forested hills and ravines overlooking the Narmada River, Mandu rewards nature and history lovers alike.

The book’s carefully planned itineraries take the traveller through the city’s unique historical atmosphere, revealing architectural details—from carved stonework and elegant arches to finely proportioned buildings and centuries-old craftsmanship.

Authored by Michael Brand, Pushkar Sohoni, and Helen Philon with photographs by Surendra Kumar, this new publication will be an indispensable companion for anyone exploring the Deccan in detail.

[Mandu, Malwa Sultanate, Architectural Heritage, Indian Architecture, Madhya Pradesh, Incredible India]

16/08/2026

Follow a river to follow history. 
Badami is the gateway to the Early Chalukya heartland in the Malaprabha valley. A landscape of sandstone cliffs, ravines and abundant water from the river provided the setting for one of the most remarkable chapters in Indian architecture.

Between the mid-6th and the mid-8th centuries CE, the Early Chalukyas carved shrines into living rock, then went on to build some of the earliest and best-preserved structural temples in India. Different groups of architects and craftsmen worked side by side, bringing together southern Dravida and northern Nagara traditions. Nowhere else in India do these styles appear in such close dialogue. They begin to merge into a unique idiom at Papanatha Temple in Pattadakal (image 9).

Cave walls, pillars, ceilings and temple exteriors are filled with masterfully carved deities, epic narratives and ornamental motifs. These photographs, captured during the DHF’s undergraduate course on Deccani Studies, offer a glimpse of one of the richest surviving collections of Early Chalukya stone art.

These photographs are from the DHF’s four-week-long undergraduate course developed in collaboration with Ashoka University, Harish & Bina Shah Foundation (HBSF) and the University of Mysore. For those who want to go deeper into the world of the Chalukyas, our comprehensive travel guidebooks are available in both print and digital formats on our online bookstore (www.deccan-heritage-foundation.org/dhf-bookstore/).

Photographs by Sai Charan Palakurthi (Charan).

[Temple Architecture, Temple Carvings, Rock-cut Architecture, Cave Temples, Chalukya Dynasty, Early Chalukya, Incredible India]

14/08/2026

Art from the Deccan: Sultan Muhammad ‘Adil Shah and Ikhlas Khan Riding an Elephant

Sultan Muhammad ‘Adil Shah of Bijapur, resplendent in a gold robe, shares the royal elephant with his prime minister, Ikhlas Khan, in this striking portrait. The elephant occupies as prominent a place in the composition as its riders. Though seated behind the Sultan and shown waving a cloth, Ikhlas Khan is the real power behind the throne. The painting’s Mughal inheritance is unmistakable, yet its palette and mood are distinctly Deccani. It also bears the names of its two makers, Haidar ‘Ali and Ibrahim Khan, whose signatures are inscribed at the left—a rare record of the artists responsible for portraying these two eminent figures of the Deccan.

From the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[Adil Shah, Deccan Sultanate, Dynasty, Miniature Painting, Miniaturist, Deccani Painting, Art History, Met Museum]

13/08/2026

On the Road with the Deccani Studies Program: After a week of exploring western Maharashtra with Dr. Pushkar Sohoni, one of the foremost scholars of Deccan Sultanate architecture, we ended at Parinda Fort, where we examined its military architecture before moving south to the former royal seat of the Adil Shahis in Bijapur, Karnataka. Here, the architecture shifts from defence to ceremony, kingship and courtly life.

We walked through forts, mosques, palaces, stepwells and tombs to understand how the Adil Shahis conveyed ideas of kingship through lofty buildings and grandeur. Everything here is about monumentality.

Inside what used to be the the political centre of Bijapur, the walled palace complex of the Ark Qila, we explored the royal palaces of Gagan Mahal and Anand Mahal, audience halls, residential quarters, pleasure pavilions, administrative buildings, gardens and water structures. Even in ruins, the Ark Qila is full of wonder. Everything, from the immense façades and raised porticos to elevated loggias, was designed to make the ruler appear to float beneath the sky.

Photographs by Sai Charan Palakurthi (Charan).

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The Deccani Studies Program is a four-week-long undergraduate course developed by the DHF in collaboration with Ashoka University, Harish & Bina Shah Foundation (HBSF) and the University of Mysore.

[Palace Architecture, Deccan Sultanate, Architectural History, Architectural Conservation, Kalyani Chalukyas, Bahmani Sultanate, Adil Shahi]

28/07/2026

On the Road with the Deccani Studies Program. Into Ajanta’s Painted World. It’s one thing to see art in a book, quite another to see the immortal images of the Buddha in person as they emerge from the half light of the Ajanta caves. Time has obliterated so much of the details adding to their mystery.

Guided by Dr. Pia Brancaccio, Professor of Art History at Drexel University, we have been experiencing first-hand the painted narratives and architectural innovations of Ajanta. The spectacular murals inside the caves, dating back to the 2nd century BCE, were discovered by chance in 1819, after which scholars tended to privilege the early Buddhist and Hindu caves in Maharashtra as sites worthy of investigation. Across the expansive walls and ceilings, around sculpted columns, remarkable compositions unfold, including the repeated motif depicting Siddhartha Gautama multiplying himself into a thousand figures to confound non-believers. Depicting numerous incidents from the life of the Buddha, the imagery transforms the caves into richly conceived Buddhist realms that place his image at their centre.

Here are a few of the paintings we found particularly fascinating.

Stay with us on our fifteen-day immersive field journey across Maharashtra and Karnataka, tracing the Buddhist, Sultanate, Chalukyan, Vijayanagara, Jain, and Adil Shahi legacies of the Deccan.

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The renewed edition of the Deccani Studies program is a collaborative initiative with Ashoka University, Harish & Bina Shah Foundation (HBSF) and University of Mysore.

Photographs by Sai Charan Palakurthi (Charan).

[Indian History, Architectural History, Architecture, Cave Temples, Cave Paintings, Buddhism, Monastery, Temple Architecture]

27/07/2026

In Memoriam | Ambassador Latha Reddy

It is with profound sadness that the we mark the passing of Ambassador Latha Reddy, Chairperson of the Deccan Heritage Foundation India.

As Chairperson of DHF India, Ambassador Reddy was a steadfast supporter of our mission to preserve, restore and promote the architectural heritage of the Deccan. Her guidance, generosity of spirit and unwavering belief in the importance of safeguarding India’s shared cultural heritage have been invaluable to our work.

We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. She will be remembered with great respect, gratitude and affection.

[Remembrance, Memoriam, Tribute, Ambassador Latha Reddy, Deccan Heritage Foundation, Heritage Conservation, Cultural Preservation]

22/07/2026

On the Road | Our four-week Deccani Studies Program with Ashoka University began its journey in Aurangabad. Led by Dr. Pia Brancaccio, the group was first introduced to early Buddhist art and architecture in the western Deccan, and spent two days tracing the evolution of the extraordinary cave complexes of Ellora, Pitalkhora and Ajanta. Like centuries of travellers before them, the students encountered extraordinary rock-cut architecture, where Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monuments were created over six centuries.

Over the coming days, follow along with the 2026 cohort as we continue across the region, travelling through landscapes, monuments and histories that have shaped the Deccan for centuries.

This second edition of the Deccani Studies Program is a collaborative initiative by the Deccan Heritage Foundation with Ashoka University, the Harish & Bina Shah Foundation (HBSF) and the University of Mysore. We are also grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Subhedar for their generous support.

Photographs by Sai Charan Palakurthi (Charan).

[Indian History, Architectural History, Architecture, Cave Temples, Cave Paintings, Buddhism, Monastery, Jain Temple, Temple Architecture]

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Badami
587 201

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 6pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 6pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 6pm
Thursday	9:30am - 6pm
Friday	9:30am - 6pm

Website

http://www.deccan-heritage-foundation.org/

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