Udayagiri Caves (Vidisha)
Udayagiri Caves are 20 rock-cut caves near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh from the early years of the 5th century CE.
Udayagiri Caves are set in two low hills near Betwa River, on the banks of its tributary Bes River.
There are a many places in India with the same name, the most notable being the mountain called Udayagiri at Rajgir in Bihar and the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves in Odisha.
The site at Udayagiri Caves was the patronage of Chandragupta II, who is widely accepted by scholars to have ruled the Gupta Empire in central India between c. 380-414 CE. The Udayagiri Caves were created in final decades of the 4th-century and consecrated in 401 CE.
Only site that can be verifiably associated with a Gupta period from its inscriptions and art.
They contain some of the oldest surviving Hindu temples and iconography in India.
They are notable for the ancient monumental relief sculpture of Vishnu in his incarnation as the man-boar Varaha, rescuing the earth symbolically represented by Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk as described in Hindu mythology.
The most celebrated cave is Cave 5 which shelters the colossal Varaha – the 3rd avatar of Lord Vishnu with a boar’s head and a human body, who existence in Hindu mythology is believed to have been triggered due to sinking of the earth (Bhudevi) into the depths of the ocean on being tormented by Hiranyaksha. The entire scene of the rescue of Bhudevi by Varaha had been laid on stone.
Iron Pillar :- One of the inscriptions on the corrosion-resistant Iron Pillar at Delhi credits a king named Chandra, presumed to be Chandragupta II, with the victory against the Vāhlikas (Bactrians).
“He, on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when, in battle in the Vaṅga countries (Bengal), he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the enemies who, uniting together, came against (him); He, by whom, having crossed in warfare the seven mouths of the (river) Sindhu, the Vāhlikas were conquered; He, by the breezes of whose prowess the southern ocean is even still perfumed”.
No wonder Chandra II used the illustrious epithet Vikramāditya, variously translated as ‘the Sun of Valour’, ‘whose Valour is as the Sun’, ‘who is the Sun of Prowess’ and so on.
Iron pillar thought to have originally been erected in what is now Udayagiri by one of the Gupta monarchs in approximately 402 CE, though the precise date and location are a matter of dispute.
Hindu art seems to have flourished in the Vidisha region during the reign of Chandra Gupta II. While there were some striking cave architectural pieces (e.g. Udayagiri), the Gupta period is specially marked for the development of new temple styles.
The distance between Udaygiri Caves and Sanchi is 8.8 kms or 5.4 miles.
The ASI has now started locking these caves so that they cannot be vandalized. The entire mountain is surrounded by two sets of 7 and 20 caves in two different faces of the mountain.
There are 20 caves containing all the three iconographies. At present many of the caves are locked and not open to tourists.
Udayagiri Caves are set in two low hills near Betwa River, on the banks of its tributary Bes River.
There are a many places in India with the same name, the most notable being the mountain called Udayagiri at Rajgir in Bihar and the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves in Odisha.
The site at Udayagiri Caves was the patronage of Chandragupta II, who is widely accepted by scholars to have ruled the Gupta Empire in central India between c. 380-414 CE. The Udayagiri Caves were created in final decades of the 4th-century and consecrated in 401 CE.
Only site that can be verifiably associated with a Gupta period from its inscriptions and art.
They contain some of the oldest surviving Hindu temples and iconography in India.
They are notable for the ancient monumental relief sculpture of Vishnu in his incarnation as the man-boar Varaha, rescuing the earth symbolically represented by Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk as described in Hindu mythology.
The most celebrated cave is Cave 5 which shelters the colossal Varaha – the 3rd avatar of Lord Vishnu with a boar’s head and a human body, who existence in Hindu mythology is believed to have been triggered due to sinking of the earth (Bhudevi) into the depths of the ocean on being tormented by Hiranyaksha. The entire scene of the rescue of Bhudevi by Varaha had been laid on stone.
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| (Varaha - Wikipedia) 4th-century Udayagiri Caves, Vidisha. |
Iron Pillar :- One of the inscriptions on the corrosion-resistant Iron Pillar at Delhi credits a king named Chandra, presumed to be Chandragupta II, with the victory against the Vāhlikas (Bactrians).
“He, on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when, in battle in the Vaṅga countries (Bengal), he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the enemies who, uniting together, came against (him); He, by whom, having crossed in warfare the seven mouths of the (river) Sindhu, the Vāhlikas were conquered; He, by the breezes of whose prowess the southern ocean is even still perfumed”.
No wonder Chandra II used the illustrious epithet Vikramāditya, variously translated as ‘the Sun of Valour’, ‘whose Valour is as the Sun’, ‘who is the Sun of Prowess’ and so on.
Iron pillar thought to have originally been erected in what is now Udayagiri by one of the Gupta monarchs in approximately 402 CE, though the precise date and location are a matter of dispute.
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The distance between Udaygiri Caves and Sanchi is 8.8 kms or 5.4 miles.
The ASI has now started locking these caves so that they cannot be vandalized. The entire mountain is surrounded by two sets of 7 and 20 caves in two different faces of the mountain.
There are 20 caves containing all the three iconographies. At present many of the caves are locked and not open to tourists.
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