Udaigiri Caves, Madhya Pradesh, India  (with Heliodorus column and Vidisha)


About five km from Vidisha are twenty Gupta cave shrines cut into a sandstone hill. Dating from 320 to 606 CE, two are Jain, the other eighteen Hindu; many still have carvings, sculptures, and inscriptions in Pali. A huge image of Vishnu in his boar incarnation adorns cave 5. The king Chandragupta II apparently had cave 7 cut out for his personal use. On the top of the hill lie the ruins of a 6th century Gupta temple. 

    [- Adapted from Lonely Planet India, 2003; Aug 05]

Road to Udaigiri caves

Udaigiri caves

Gupta-era temple remains

Narasimha


Cave entrance


Shivalingam


Udaigiri caves


Sculpture


Pali script


Snake


Discovered on a river bed


Vidisha museum


Udaigiri village


Raisen fort


Udaigiri village home


Heliodorus column


Landscape


Landscape


Landscape


Landscape


Wildflowers


Betwa river


Betwa river ghat


Road kill

 



Designed in collaboration with Vitalect, Inc. All rights reserved.