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.
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).
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 11 th 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.
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.
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