Udaygiri Cave Temples --- Lively Narrations in Stone
How to Reach
Air : The nearest airport is at Bhopal, 60km from Vidisha.
Rail : Vidisha falls enroute Delhi-Chennai.
Road : Regular bus services connect Vidisha with various towns and cities of MP
From Vidisha, autorickshaws and tongas may be hired to reach the caves.
It is mid December and my colleague Bharati Banerjee and I, are on a tour of Madhya Pradesh. Ours is a holiday put together on the spur of the moment, to get away from the mundane official routine. Needless to say, we do not have time to make any railway or hotel reservations. Armed with a map and travel book on the State, we take off in a rented Scorpio with Shiv as our chauffer from Korba, Chhattisgarh where we reside.
Being a dedicated travel buff, I am constantly on the lookout for “unchartered” territory, the lesser known spots that promise exciting and interesting experience. This is probably the reason why I undertake most of my trips by car since it allows me the flexibility to change plans as and when required, and make halts whenever I see something out-of-the-ordinary. This is how Bharati and I chance upon Besnagar, Vidisha and its ancient cave temples of Udaygiri in the wee hours of dawn as we proceed from Sanchi to Jabalpur.
Vidisha, situated in the fork of the Betwa and Bes rivers, is roughly 15km from Sanchi. Once off the main road between Sanchi and Vidisha, we get into the village roads, motorable mud ones that take us right up to the caves. Fields and huts dot the route that gets a trifle isolated as we approach the caves. I am at once reminded of Ajanta, Ellora, Badami and several other cave structures in India, as we come upon this kilometer long rock-hewn cave sanctuaries, carved into a sandstone hill, standing sentinel-like on the horizon. Yet, these hill caves of Udaygiri, meaning Sunrise Hills, awash in the gentle glow of the rising sun, bear little semblance to their better known counterparts that are gigantic by comparison. The east-facing Udaigiri is located between Sunpura and Udaygiri villages, an isolated hillock rising about 110m above the surrounding plains. Its dark rocks, craggy folds and steep face lend it an aura of romance and mysticism at first glance.
Having gotten over our initial awe on coming upon Udaygiri, we realize there is not a soul in sight who could tell us something about this Gupta period marvel that dates back to the 3rd century AD. We also notice that the entrances to the cave temples are gated and locked. Even as we wonder how we’d surmount this problem, Kishan, the caretaker of the caves who also doubles up as guide, cycles down to where we are, having spotted us from a distance.
After a little bit of coaxing, he agrees to open the iron doors to some of the cave temples. Vidisha, during the 5th and 6th centuries BC was an important trade centre and bustling city that came under the sway of the Sungas, Nagas, Satvahanas and later the Guptas. Emperor Ashoka was its governor during the 3rd century busy as evidenced from Kalidasa’s Meghdoot However, the city it is believed was deserted after the 6th century AD before it once again sprung to light and life in the medieval ages, between the 9th and 12th centuries AD, known then as Bhilsa. While it was subsequently ruled by the Malwa Sultans, Mughuls and Scindias, it is not clear as to when the cave temples of Udaygiri came to be discovered.
While most of the caves lie scattered near the foot of the rock, we observe on top, the remains of an ancient temple with one of the twenty caves a little below it. That’s cave 18, enlightens Kishan. The caves apparently have been numbered in the order in which they have been excavated.
The rock-cut cave temples date back to the Gupta period, from 320-600 AD. Pointing to some faint inscriptions in Pali, Kishan tells us that the caves were cut probably around the era of Chandragupta II between 382-401 A.D. Two of the caves are dedicated to the Jain Tirthankaras while the rest contain Hindu deities. We notice that not all caves have sculptures in them.
Cave number one displays a frontage formed from a natural ledge of rock, giving rise to the cave itself and its structural portico with front of pillars having capitals in vase and foliage design. As we proceed further to the subsequent caves, we realize they are getting larger and more ornate with richly carved facades and doorways, showcasing a pantheon of Hindu deities and mythological characters, though Vishnu predominates.
Kishan at once leads us to the most compelling shrine, that of Lord Vishnu as Varaha in Cave 5. This is veritably the most arresting of all the cave sculptures, the single most significant piece that is reason enough for one to visit Udaygiri. The scene is a most lively narration of Lord Vishnu’s incarnation as Varaha, the gigantic boar that dives into the ocean depths to save Mother Earth. The only one of its kind anywhere in the world, this 4m tall statue of Lord Varaha is flanked on the sides by the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna on their mounts.
It is at once evident from the figures on the right hand side of the Varaha idol that the vagaries of weather have made dull, the colour of the sculptures that must have been brick-red originally. The legend of Varaha triumphantly holding up the Earth on his massive shoulder, to the admiration and adoration of onlooking sages and other heavenly characters, unfolds itself before us in the deft carvings. Another particularly eye-catching huge idol is that of the reclining Vishnu in an open cave.
The sculptural and architectural style in these caves is distinctly decorative, giving play to the most minute of details. The sculptural creations bespeak volumes of the skills and artistry of the Besnagar craftsmen under the Guptas. The caves bear testimony to a splendid past typified by richness of expression on sandstone, created with utmost precision, using the most primitive of tools. If the sculptures are rich in execution, they exhibit simple beauty, characteristic of art during the reign of the Guptas.
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