Important Caves by Dr. Gaurav Garg Sittanavasal caves, Tamil Nadu ● Sittanavasal Cave is a 2nd-century Jain complex of caves in Sittanavasal village in Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu, India. ● The monument is a rock-cut monastery or temple. ● Created by Jains , it is called the Arivar Koil, and is a rock cut cave temple of the Arihants. ( monolith - monument, made from one large block of stone) ● It contains various murals . (A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall or ceiling) ● The murals have been painted with vegetable and mineral dyes in black, green, yellow, orange, blue, and white. Paintings have been created by applying colours over a thin wet surface of lime plaster. ● The Temple-cave was initially dated to Pallava King Mahendravarman I prior to his conversion from Jainism to Hinduism . ● The themes of painting depicts a beautiful lotus pond with lotus flowers, people collecting lotuses from the pond, two dancing figures, lilies, fish, geese, buffaloes and elephants. ● Fresco Paintings ● Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes an integral part of the wall. Famous fresco paintings include Ajanta caves, sittanavasal, Badami caves etc. Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Odisha ● The twin hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri in Bhubaneswar, anciently known as Kumara and Kumari parvatas respectively represent one of the earliest groups of Jaina rock-cut architecture in eastern India in the fields of history, rock-cut architecture, art and religion. ● There are all together eighteen caves in the Udayagiri and fifteen caves in the Khandagiri. ● It is believed that most of these caves were carved out as residential blocks for Jain monks during the reign of King Kharavela. ● Hathigumpha inscriptions were found here. ● Kharavela was a king of Kalinga in present-day Odisha, India, who ruled during the first or second century BCE. ● He was the best-known king of the Mahameghavahana dynasty. 1 © Copyright 2020 Study IQ Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra ● The Ajanta Caves are approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra . ● The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art . ● The caves were built in two phases, the first phase starting around the 2nd century BCE, while the second phase was built around 400–650 CE. ● Since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site . ● The caves are in the rocky northern wall of the U-shaped gorge of the river Waghur in the Deccan plateau. Ellora Caves, Maharashtra ● Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. ● It is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world, featuring Hindu, Buddhist and Jain monuments, and artwork, dating from the 600–1000 CE period. ● There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills, 34 of which are open to the public. ● All of the Ellora monuments were built during Hindu dynasties such as the Rashtrakuta dynasty, which constructed part of the Hindu and Buddhist caves, and the Yadava dynasty , which constructed a number of the Jain caves. Elephanta Caves, Maharashtra ● Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. ● They are on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally "the city of caves"), in Mumbai Harbour. ● The island consists of five Hindu caves and a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BCE. ● The 7-metre-high masterpiece “ Sadashiva ” dominates the entrance to Cave 1. The sculpture represents three aspects of Shiva: the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer, identified, respectively, with Aghora or Bhairava (left half), Taptapurusha or Mahadeva (central full face), and Vamadeva or Uma (right half). 2 © Copyright 2020 Study IQ Pandavleni Caves, Nashik, Maharashtra ● The group of twenty-four caves. ● Being located on a major ancient trade route connecting the coastal port towns like Kalyana, Sopara with inland cities, they received extensive patronage from the ruling families as well as the trading community. ● Most of the caves have the magnificent idols of Buddha and or the popular Jain Teerthankaras. ● The hill on which the caves are hewn was known as Trirashmi as revealed from an inscription in Cave 10. ● These caves are dated from the first century B.C., to the sixth or seventh century A.D. Bagh Caves, Madhya Pradesh ● The Bagh Caves are a group of nine rock-cut monuments, situated among the southern slopes of the Vindhyas in Bagh town of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. ● Buddhist in inspiration, of the nine caves, only five have survived. ● All of them are 'viharas' or resting places of monks and monasteries having quadrangular plans. ● The Bagh Caves were quarried in the 5th -6th century AD, in the very late stages of Buddhism in India, and long after most of the Indian Buddhist Caves had been built, many of them since the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE. ● They are believed to have been built by the Satavahana dynasty during the 5-7th century. Lohani Caves, Madhya Pradesh ● Lohani Caves are rock-cut caves and temples found near the abandoned Mandu site in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. ● These excavations are dated to about the 11th and 12 th century CE. The archaeological studies have yielded Hindu statues and carvings such as those of Shiva, Parvati, Vishnu and Lakshmi. Lenyadri Caves, Junnar, Pune, Maharashtra ● Lenyadri also called Ganesa Lena, Ganesh Pahar Caves, represents a series of about 30 rock-cut Buddhist caves, located about 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) north of Junnar in Pune district. ● Other caves surrounding the city of Junnar are: Manmodi Caves, Shivneri Caves and Tulja Caves . ● Cave 7, originally a Buddhist vihara, has been adapted as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ganesha. It is one of the Ashtavinayak shrines, a set of the eight prominent Ganesha shrines in Western Maharashtra. ● All of the caves arise from Hinayana Buddhism. 3 © Copyright 2020 Study IQ Bhimbetka Caves, Raisen, Madhya Pradesh ● The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains. ● Within massive sandstone outcrops, above comparatively dense forest, are five clusters of natural rock shelters, displaying paintings that appear to date from the Mesolithic Period right through to the historical period. ● The cultural traditions of the inhabitants of the twenty-one villages adjacent to the site bear a strong resemblance to those represented in the rock paintings. ● It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of the Stone Age. ● It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 km. The rock shelters and caves provide evidence of, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, a "rare glimpse" into human settlement and cultural evolution from hunter-gatherers, to agriculture, and expressions of prehistoric spirituality. Jogimara & Sitabenga Caves, Chhattisgarh ● The Sitabenga cave is situated on Ramgarh Hills near Ambikapur in Surguja District , Chhattisgarh. ● India’s oldest theatre is in the Sitabenga cave at Ramgarh Hill, now in Chhattisgarh state in central India. It was built between 300 and 200 BCE. This is a small theatre carved into the rock at the mouth of a cave facing out over an uncovered area just large enough for a small temporary scene building and stage. ● Jogimara caves was considered the dressing room for actresses of the drama that was performed in the SitaBenga. Mauryan Caves, Bihar ● The notable rock-cut Mauryan caves are carved at Barabar and Nagarjuni hills near Gaya in Bihar in Jehanabad district. ● Barabar hills have 4 caves and Nagarjuni hills have 3 caves. ● Sudama and Lomus Rishi cave are the most popular Barabar caves. ● The facade of the Lomus Rishi cave is decorated with the semicircular chaitya arch as the entrance. Junagadh Caves, Gujarat ● Junagadh Buddhist Cave Groups are located in Junagadh district of the Indian state of Gujarat. ● These caves group includes Uparkot Caves, Khapra Kodiya Caves and Baba Pyare Caves. The so-called "Buddhist Caves" are not actually caves, but three separate sites of rooms carved out of stone to be used as monks' quarters. ● These caves were carved starting from Emperor Ashoka's period up to 1st-4th century AD. 4 © Copyright 2020 Study IQ Adamgarh Caves, Madhya Pradesh ● Adamgarh hills are situated 2 km south of Hoshangabad town, near the Narmada river. ● There are around 18 rock shelters in Adamgarh; 11 shelters have visible paintings, others have faded with time ● The shelters contain mostly miniature paintings. ● The paintings are simple, less artistic and, in most cases, without any details of physical proportion. Painted in red, dark brown, shadowy brown, and white, the human figures are pinched merely in outlines, while animal figures have a little more detailing. ● The activities of human beings and animals have been exceptionally trapped on the walls. ● Besides battle scenes, riders on horse-back, soldiers with bows and arrows, quiver and scabbard, there are paintings of several animals like oxen, monkeys, horses, fish, peacocks, and in one case a giraffe. Depictions of trees have also been found, but the lack of details makes the identification process difficult. Badami Caves, Bagalkot, Karnataka ● The Badami cave temples are located in the town of Badami in the north-central part of Karnataka, India. ● The Malaprabha River is 3 miles away.