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Udaygiri Caves |
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The Udaygiri Caves located in the hills within 6 km from the city of Bhubaneswar in Orissa, are one of the most important historic sites in India. The Udaygiri Caves facing the Khandagiri Caves bear evidence of the presence of the Buddhists and Jains in that region around the 2nd century B.C. The Udaygiri Caves ascends up to 40 meters amidst the bordering lateritic and barren plains, Udaygiri meaning “hill of the sunrise”.
Significant repair works have been carried out by the Archeological Survey of India which include holding up the important features of the caves and preserving the rock-carvings of these historic sandstone caves as sandstone is not very strong and digging in the hills for creating the Udaygiri Caves have made these prone to damage.
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The inscriptions on few surfaces on the rock, particularly over the Hathi Gupha reveal the fact that the Chedis dynasty ruled in that region of Kalinga from a site located within 9 km in Khandagiri’s southeast which was their capital bearing resemblance to Sisupalgarh. These caves were later rebuilt and restored by the rulers of the Kharvela dynasty. The caves found here at present were built in and around 150 B.C. The Udaygiri Caves were cut out of sandstone for the Jain monks who had abandoned family life to meditate in solitude and peace. These confined caves, thus, devoid of any comfortable amenity, offered shelter only.
The caves comprising the Udaygiri Caves include the following:
- Cave 1 – Known as Rani Gupha, this is the most interesting of all the caves featuring carvings describing royal and religious scenes.
- Cave 3 – This cave features figures of elephants.
- Cave 4 – Two-storied cave including carvings of an elephant, a serpent and a lion with its prey
- Cave 5 – Also known as “Jaya-Vijaya”, this cave features a central hall with a carved Bodhi tree.
- Cave 6 – Quarrying in the hills has resulted in the lowering of the floor of this cave by almost a meter.
- Cave 7 – This cave includes a very high ceiling.
- Cave 8 – This is a two-storied cave also known as ‘Swargapuri’.
- Cave 9 – This is called ‘Ganesh Gupha’ and bear resemblance with a Chaitya hall of the Buddhists.
- Cave 11, Cave 12 and Cave 13 – Cave 11 and Cave 13 are called ‘Pawana Gupha’ and the ‘Sarpa Gupha’ while Cave 12 is known as ‘Bagh Gupha’.
- Cave 14 – This cave also known as the “Hathi Gupha” features inscriptions depicting the activities of the Kalinga and Kharaveli rulers.
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