Art and Architecture
They developed the Deccan or Vesara style in the building of structural
temples, which reached culmination, however, only under the Rashtrakutas
and the Hoyasalas.
It was the Chalukyas who perfected the art of stone building, that is, stones
finely joined without mortar.
Under their auspices, the Buddhists, Jainas and Brahmins competed with
each other in building cave temples.
Though the cave frescoes began earlier, some of the finest specimens
belonged to the Chalukya era. The murals that were executed on the walls
dealt with not only religious themes but also with secular ones. In the first
monastic hall at Ajanta, we notice a painting depicting the reception given to
a Persian embassy by Pulakesin II.
                                   TEMPLES
  The temple-building activity under the Chalukyas of Badami can be
  broadly divided into two stages. The first stage is represented by the
  temples at Aihole and Badami. Aihole is a town of temples and contains
  no fewer than 70 structures, of which four are noteworthy.
  Ladh Khan temple is a flat roofed building.
  Durga temple was an experiment seeking to adopt the Buddhist chaitya to
  a Brahmanical temple.
  Hucimaligudi is very similar to the Durga temple, but smaller than it.
  The Jaina temple of Meguti shows some progress in the erection of
  structural temples, but it is unfinished.
  Of the temples at Badami, the Melagitti Sivalaya is a small but finely
  proportioned and magnificently located temple. A group of four rock-cut
  halls at Badami (three of them Hindu and one Jaina) are all of the same
  type. The workmanship in the caves is marked by a high degree of
  technical excellence. Though the front is very unassuming, the interior is
  treated with great skill and care in every detail.
  The second stage is represented by the temples at Pattadakal. There are
  about ten temples here, four in the northern style and six in the southern
  style. In the Deccan both styles    were used. There was even a tendency to