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Udayagiri Caves
Early 5th century Hindu cave temples in Madhya Pradesh / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Udayagiri Caves are twenty rock-cut caves near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh primarily denoted to the Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva from the early years of the 3rd century CE to 5th century CE.[1][2] They contain some of the oldest surviving Hindu temples and iconography in India.[1][3][4] They are the only site that can be verifiably associated with a Gupta period monarch from its inscriptions.[5] One of India's most important archaeological sites, the Udayagiri hills and its caves are protected monuments managed by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Udayagiri Caves | |
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Religion | |
Affiliation | Hinduism,Jainism |
District | Vidisha district |
Deity | Varaha,Vishnu,Parshvanatha, others |
Location | |
Location | Udayagiri, Vidisha |
State | Madhya Pradesh |
Country | India |
Geographic coordinates | 23°32′11.0″N 77°46′20″E |
Architecture | |
Style | Gupta era |
Completed | c. 250-410 CE[citation needed] |
Udayagiri caves contain iconography of Hinduism and Jainism.[6][5] 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.[3] The site has important inscriptions of the Gupta dynasty belonging to the reigns of Chandragupta II (c. 375-415) and Kumaragupta I (c. 415-55).[7] In addition to these, Udayagiri has a series of rock-shelters and petroglyphs, ruined buildings, inscriptions, water systems, fortifications and habitation mounds, all of which remain a subject of continuing archaeological studies. The Udayagiri Caves complex consists of twenty caves, of which one is dedicated to Jainism and all others to Hinduism.[4] The Jain cave is notable for one of the oldest known Jaina inscriptions from 425 CE, while the Hindu caves feature inscriptions from 401 CE.[8]
There are a number of 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.[6]