Barabar caves
The Barabar Caves in Jehanabad district in the northern Indian state of Bihar are among the oldest man-made caves in India . Since the four caves have a total of seven rooms, they are also called the "seven hostels" ( Bihari / Hindi Satgharva (सातघर) or Urdu / Persian Haft Khan or haft chāne (هفت خانه)). The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has the Barabar Caves on its UNESCO World Heritage List .
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location
The Barabar Caves are about 25 km as the crow flies (driving distance about 31 km) north of Gaya at the foot of the 300 m high mountain Siddheshwar , one of the northernmost foothills of the Vindhya mountains in the transition to the Ganges plain , on which there is a Shiva temple, various There are rock reliefs and traces of fortifications. Since 1986 the area has belonged to the newly created Jehanabad District .
An elongated, almost 200 m long, almost black granite hump conceals a first cave, Karan Chaupar , on its north side , and shortly to the west - carved into an outcrop of the rock - two human figures and a lingam . The entrances to two other caves, Sudama and Lomas Rishi, are located in the southern front of the ridge . A fourth cave, Visva Zopri , is located about 800 m northeast of these three caves on a rocky hill, which can be reached via a rock staircase ("Ashoka Steps").
history
The caves date from the time of the Maurya ruler Ashoka , i.e. from the 3rd century BC. A rock inscription denotes the place with Gorathagiri - a place that occurs in the Mahabharata epic. According to the inscription in the Sudama cave, it was dug in the 12th year of Ashoka's reign (ruled approx. 268–232 BC) for the ascetic community of the Ajivika . Another inscription as well as several Hindu rock reliefs and steles date from the late Gupta period (7th / 8th century AD) and later. The caves were already noticed by Europeans at the beginning of the 19th century, but only made known to a wider public through the visit of the Indologist Alexander Cunningham in 1868 and the subsequent publication.
description
The caves carved into the natural granite rocks are quite simple chambers, some of which are not finished. The extremely carefully polished, shiny natural stone surfaces of the walls and ceilings are impressive . Only the entrance to the Lomas Rishi Cave is decorated with ornate stone carvings .
The area of the Karan Chaupar Cave measures around 10 × 4 meters. The barrel vault inside is about 2 m high on the sides and about 3.25 m high at the top. To the right of the entrance are the remains of a five-line inscription from the 19th year of Ashoka's reign.
The chamber of the Sudama Cave measures around 10 × 6 meters and its barrel vault is around 3.5 meters high. At the western end it is connected to a round room with a diameter of 6 m and a domed ceiling via a door-like opening . It contains the Ashoka dedication inscription in Brahmi .
The Lomas Rishi Cave has almost the same dimensions and shape as the Sudama Cave. Its portal, about 30 cm deep from the vertical rock face, has a profiled gable canopy crowned by a kalasha vase with 13 beam ends and two wall pillars, which must be understood as the outer walls of a building; on both sides the three lower beam heads are kept away from the 'walls' with small pillars. The area between the archway and the gable roof shows a semicircular relief band on which elephants strive from both sides to a stupa at the apex of the band. From the tapering lower ends of the ribbon, a Makara pushes behind the elephant. A second band arranged above the first band shows regular latticework and a tuft of leaves in each of its lower pointed ends. The segment of a circle between the archway and the horizontal lintel of the actual door opening to the cave chamber bears two inscriptions from the later Gupta period.
The very simple, unpolished Visva Zapri Cave (also spelled Vishwajhopri ) is carved into the south side of a large rock. It consists of an almost cubic first chamber, the rear wall of which contains a passage into a second cubic chamber. The edge length of the cubes is a little more than 2 m. A multi-line Brahmi inscription is remarkable.
Art-historical classification
The Barabar caves, carved out of the natural rock, represent the starting point of a typical Indian cave and temple architecture , which spread far into the Asian region.
The round chambers in the Sudama and Lomas Rishi caves, viewed from the rooms in front of them, prove to be a replica of traditional thatched round huts that offered protection to ascetics or shrines. Similarly, at the entrance portal of the Lomas Rishi Cave, the typical rock and stone building tradition of converting the familiar wooden construction methods into stone can be observed. These forms should develop into the kudu portals or (blend) windows.
The artfully polished surfaces of the walls and ceilings share a tradition of craftsmanship with the Ashoka columns found in various locations in India .
Nagarjuna caves
About 2 km further north of the Barabar Caves are the three Nagarjuna caves: Gopi (milkmaid), Vahiyaka and Vedathika . Their inscriptions prove that they were also donated to the Ajivikas by Dasaratha , Ashoka's successor.
Others
The writer EM Forster , who visited the caves at the beginning of the 20th century, made them a central location in the plot as “Marabar Caves” in his novel A Passage to India .
literature
- James Fergusson: A History of architecture in all countries from the earliest times to the present day . Volume 3: History of Indian and Eastern Architecture . New edition. Murray, London 1891.
- Robert Strasser: Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal. Indoculture, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-921-948-10-X , pp. 191ff.
- AL Basham: The Wonder that was India. A Survey of the History and Culture of the Indian Sub-Continent before the Coming of the Muslims . 3rd revised edition. Picador, London 2004, ISBN 0-330-43909-X .
Web links
- Barabar Caves - Photos + Info (English)
- Barabar Caves - Video (English)
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 25 ° 0 ′ 21 ″ N , 85 ° 3 ′ 45 ″ E