Udayagiri Caves
| Udayagiri Caves | |
|---|---|
| archaeological site | |
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 Udayagiri Caves
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| Coordinates: 23°32′11″N 77°46′20″E / 23.536389°N 77.772222°ECoordinates: 23°32′11″N 77°46′20″E / 23.536389°N 77.772222°E | |
| Country |
 India
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| State | Madhya Pradesh |
| District | Vidisha |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Hindi |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 464001 |
The Udayagiri Caves feature some of the oldest Hindu images and cave temples in India. They are located near the city of Vidisha, northeast of Bhopal in the state of Madhya Pradesh. One of India's most important archaeological sites from the Gupta period, the Udayagiri hills and its caves are an archaeological site under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India.
Udayagiri consists of two low hills immediately next to the River Bes. Located a short distance from the earthen ramparts of the ancient city site of Besnagar, Udayagiri is about 4 km from the town of Vidisha and about 13 km from the Buddhist site of Sanchi. Udayagiri is best known for a series of rock-cut sanctuaries and images excavated into hillside in the early years of the fifth century CE. The site is notable for its ancient monumental relief sculpture of Hindu god Vishnu, in his incarnation as the boar-headed Varaha, rescuing the earth symbolically represented by Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk as described in Hindu mythology. 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). In addition to these remains, Udayagiri has a series of rock-shelters and petroglyphs, ruined buildings, inscriptions, water systems, fortifications and habitation mounds, all of which have been only partially investigated. The complex consists of twenty caves, of which one is dedicated to Jainism and all others to Hinduism.
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.
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