Pattadakal, temples of the Chalukya kings

Pattadakal, on the Malaprabha river, was where Chalukya kings were crowned, and in the 8th century they raised a group of temples there in the northern and southern Indian styles side by side. The largest, the Virupaksha, was built by Queen Lokamahadevi around 740 to mark her husband Vikramaditya II's victories over the Pallavas, and served as a model for the Kailasa temple at Ellora.