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The Bhutanatha group of temples is a cluster of sandstone shrines dedicated to the deity Bhutanatha, in Badami town of Karnataka state, India. There are two major temples here. Temple No.1, on the east side of the lake, called the Bhutanatha temple has a superstructure that resembles early South Indian style or North Indian style with its open mantapa (hall or Veranda) extending into the lake, while the smaller Temple No.2 on the north-east side of the lake, sometimes called the Mallikarjuna group of temples, has a stepped superstructure, commonly found in Kalyani Chalukya constructions. The inner shrine and mantapa (hall) of Temple No.1 were constructed in the late 7th century, during the reign of the Badami Chalukyas. While the outer mantapa, facing the Badami tank, was completed during the rule of the Kalyani Chalukyas of the 11th century. Hence the Bhutanatha temple contain architectural forms from different periods. Studies show that these Kalyani Chalukya architects could have belonged to the same early phase workshop, that later built the nearby Yellamma temple and the Mallikarjuna group of temples.Temple planIn the inner hall of the Bhutanatha temple, a heavy architrave above the columns divides the hall into a central nave and two aisles. The pillars are massive and the bays in the ceiling of the nave is decorated with lotus rosette. Perforated windows bring dim light into the inner mantapa. On either side of the foot of the shrine doorway is an image of goddess Ganga on her vehicle, the makara, on the right, and on the left, that of goddesses Yamuna riding the tortoise. There is no dedicatory block upon the lintel to indicate to which deity the initial dedication was for. The Shiva linga in the shrine appears to be a later addition after the original deity in the sanctum was removed.
