Important Rock-Cut Caves in India

Indian Art and Culture have a significant place in the world. One of the important topics in this is Rock-Cut Architecture. This topic is very important for exams such as SSC, UPSC, State PSC, and many others. This topic needs special attention from the students and they should consider this very seriously to fetch good marks in the upcoming exams.

The development of rock architecture in India: An Introduction

• The earliest rock caves are attributed to Ashoka and his grandson Dasharatha.
  
• Early Buddhist architecture spans the period from the 2nd century BC. Until the 2nd century AD, his excavations belonging to this period consist mainly of chaityas and viharas. They were mostly wooden. Examples of early Buddhist architecture can still be seen in Karla, Kanheri, Nasik, Bhaja, Bedsa, and Ajanta. The second phase of rock construction began in the 5th century when wood was eliminated and the Buddha image was introduced as a major feature of the architectural design.  The monastery changed slightly during this period, and the inner chamber, which was occupied only by the monks, also housed a Buddha statue.
  
• The next and perhaps most dominant stage in the rock-cutting tradition is the Dravidian rock-cutting style. The main features of this style are the mandapa and rata. A mandapa is an open pavilion carved into the rock. On the back wall, he has the form of a simple portico with two or more cells. A rata is a monolithic shrine carved out of a single rock.

Important Rock-Cut Caves in India:

1. Kanheri Cave

• Location: Near Mumbai (Maharashtra)
  
• It’s period( 2nd- 9th century AD)
  
• Belongs to Hinayana of Buddhist architecture
  
• However, as Mahayana Buddhism gained momentum, additions were made. Example: 5th century Buddha statue
  
• There are about 100 caves.
• These caves are located on salsette Island
  

2. Jogeshwari Cave

• The Jogeshwari Caves temples are known for Lord Shiva’s shrine.
  
• They belong to the final stage of Mahayana Buddhism. The brahmin shrine is also here.
  
• They belong to the late 8th century
  

3. Mandapeshwar Caves

• It is also called Mandapeshwar Cave.
  
• These caves are situated in Mount Poinsur, near Mumbai. Originally, the caves were on the banks of the Dahisar River.
  
• The only Brahmanical caves which converted into a Christian shrine
  
• It has three caves which are dated to the 8th century
  

4. Karla caves

• Location: Balaghat hills near Mumbai (Maharashtra)
  
• Period: Hinayana period of the Buddhist architecture
  
• Here the chaityas are among the largest in the country
  
• Many Satavahana rulers offered donations for the construction of the caves.
  
• The main cave here is Cave No. 8 or the great chaitya cave
  

5. Bhaja caves

• Location: Near Pune (Maharashtra)
  
• They are believed to be excavated in the 2nd century BC
  
• These caves are related to Hinayana Buddhism
  
• These caves are important because of  the awareness of wooden architecture
  
• The carvings prove that the tabla – a percussion instrument – was used in India for at least 2300 years
  

6. Bedsa caves

• Location: In Maval Taluka, Pune (Maharashtra)
  
• Its chaitya resembles the great hall at Karle but it is smaller in size.
  
• It has four pillars with carvings of horses, bulls, and elephants mounted by male and female riders.
• There are two main caves 1. Chaitya 2. Vihara (The Monastery)

7. Ellora Cave

• Location: Maharashtra
  
• It is one of the world’s largest rock-hewn cave complexes of Hindu temples, specifically showing Hinduism and several Buddhist and Jain monuments.
  
• Cave 16 houses the Kailash Temple, the world’s largest single monolith excavation, a chariot-shaped monument dedicated to Lord Shiva.
  
• There are over 100 caves on site, all of which are dug into the basalt cliffs of Charanandri Hills.
  
• All of the Ellora monuments were built during the Rashtrakuta dynasty, which built some of the Hindu and Buddhist caves, and the Yadavas which built Jaina caves in large numbers.   
  
• Cave number 15  is also known as Dashavatara Cave. It dates from the time of the Rashtrakuta king Danti Durga. This cave mainly depicts Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu in various forms. This two-story building has a large courtyard with a monolithic Nandi Mandapa.
  
• Notable among the Buddhist caves is Cave 10, a chaitya called Vishvakarma Cave built around AD 650. It is also known as the ‘Carpenter’s Cave’ due to the rocks being given a surface resembling wooden beams.
  
• At the northern end of Ellora are his five Jain caves of the Digambara school excavated from the 9th to the early 10th century.
  
• Excavated in the 9th century, Indra Sabha (Cave 32) is his two-story cave with a monolithic temple in the courtyard. Nineteenth-century historians confused the Jain yaksha with another image of Indra found in Buddhist and Hindu artworks, leading to the temple being erroneously named “Indra Sabha.

8. Ajanta Cave

• The cave is carved out of cliff flood basalt, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous geological period.
  
• They are rock caves in the Sahyadri Mountains on the Wagora River near Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
  
• There are 29 caves and 1 unfinished one. All these caves belong to the Buddhist religion
  
• The cave was constructed around 200 BC. Developed in 650 AD.
  
• The construction of the cave was assisted by the vakataka kings.
  
• References to these caves can be found in the observations of Chinese travelers Fa Hien and Hiuen Tsang. These caves have murals depicting the Jataka stories
  
• The second phase of the Ajanta Caves site began in the 5th century. The second phase is attributed to the theistic Mahayana
  

9. Elephanta caves

• Location: Mumbai
  
• Period: 8th century AD.
  
• The Ganesh Gumpha is one of the earliest examples of the Brahmanical temple.
  
• One of the masterpieces of this cave is the three faced-image of Shiva.
  
• Other important sculptures here are- Ravana shaking Kailasa, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, Shiva performing the Tandava dance, and Ardhanariswara.
  

10. Udayagiri caves

• Location: Madhya Pradesh
  
• It has a few of the oldest surviving Hindu temples in India
  
• They are the only site that can be verifiably associated with a Gupta period monarch from their inscriptions.
  
• These have portraits of Vishnu, Durga, Matrikas, and Shiva.
  
• They have significant ancient monumental relief sculptures of Vishnu as the man-boar Varaha, 
  
• It has important inscriptions of the Gupta dynasty i.e Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta I
  
• Its complex consists of 20 caves, out of which 1 belongs to Jainism and the rest are Hinduism.