Barabar Caves
 | |
  Location in Bihar, India | |
| Alternative name | Barābar, Satgharva, Satgharwa |
|---|---|
| Location | Jehanabad district, Bihar, India |
| Coordinates | 25°00′18″N 85°03′47″E / 25.005°N 85.063°ECoordinates: 25°00′18″N 85°03′47″E / 25.005°N 85.063°E |
| Type | Caves |
| Part of | Barabar and Nagarjuni hills |
| History | |
| Founded | 322–185 BCE |
| Pilgrimage to |
| Buddha's Holy Sites |
|---|
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| The Four Main Sites |
| Four Additional Sites |
| Other Sites |
|
| Later Sites |
The Barabar Hill Caves (Hindi बराबर, Barābar) are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, dating from the Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE), some with Ashokan inscriptions, located in the Makhdumpur region of Jehanabad district, Bihar, India, 24 km (15 mi) north of Gaya.[1]
These caves are situated in the twin hills of Barabar (four caves) and Nagarjuni (three caves); caves of the 1.6 km (0.99 mi)-distant Nagarjuni Hill are sometimes singled out as the Nagarjuni Caves. These rock-cut chambers bear dedicatory inscriptions in the name of "King Piyadasi" for the Barabar group, and "Devanampiya Dasaratha" for the Nagarjuni group, thought to date back to the 3rd century BCE during the Maurya period, and to correspond respectively to Ashoka (reigned 273–232 BCE) and his grandson, Dasharatha Maurya.[2][3][4]
The sculptured surround to the entrance to the Lomas Rishi Cave is the earliest survival of the ogee shaped "chaitra arch" or chandrashala that was to be an important feature of Indian rock-cut architecture and sculptural decoration for centuries. The form was clearly a reproduction in stone of buildings in wood and other plant materials.[2][3]
The caves were used by ascetics from the Ajivika sect,[2] founded by Makkhali Gosala, a contemporary of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and of Mahavira, the last and 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. The Ajivikas had many similarities with Buddhism as well as Jainism.[5] Also present at the site are several rock-cut Buddhist and Hindu sculptures and inscriptions from later periods.[1]
Most caves at Barabar consist of two chambers, carved entirely out of granite, with a highly polished internal surface, the "Mauryan polish" also found on sculptures, and exciting echo effects.[3]
The caves were featured – located in a fictitious Marabar – in the book A Passage to India by English author E. M. Forster.[6] These were also shown in the book The Mahabharata Secret by Indian author Christopher C. Doyle.
Caves at Barabar Hill[]
Barabar Hill contains four caves: Karan Chaupar, Lomas Rishi, Sudama and Visvakarma.[1] Sudama and Lomas Rishi are the earliest examples of rock-cut architecture in India,[4] with architectural detailing made in the Mauryan period. Similar examples include the larger Buddhist Chaitya, found in Maharashtra, such as in Ajanta and Karla Caves. The Barabar caves greatly influenced the tradition of rock-cut architecture in the Indian subcontinent.
- Lomas Rishi cave has an arch-like shape facade that imitates contemporary timber architecture. On the doorway, a row of elephants proceed towards stupa emblems, along the curved architrave.[2][3][page needed]
- Sudama cave was dedicated by Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka in 261 BCE. The arches of Sudama cave have bow shape. The caves consist of a circular vaulted chamber with a rectangular mandapa.
- Karan Chaupar (Karna Chaupar) consists of single rectangular room with polished surfaces, contains inscription which could be dated to 245 BCE.
- Visva karma cave, reachable by Ashoka steps hewn in the cliff, consists of two rectangular rooms.
Lomas Rishi cave[]
The cave of Lomas Rishi is probably the most famous of the caves of Barabar, because of its beautifully carved door. It is on the southern side of Barabar granite hill, and is adjacent to Sudama cave, which is on the left. Lomas Rishi consists of two rooms: a rectangular room measuring 9.86x5.18m, and a circular, semi-hemispherical room 5m in diameter, which is accessed from the rectangular room by a narrow rectangular passage.
This cave has an arched facade that probably imitates contemporary wooden architecture. On the periphery of the door, along the curve of the architrave, a line of elephants advances in the direction of stupa emblems.[2][3] This is the characteristic form of the "Chaitya arch" or chandrashala, to be an important feature of architecture and sculpture in the rock for many centuries. It is clearly a stone reproduction of wooden buildings and other plant materials.[2][3] According to Gupta, Lomas Rishi's immediate successors are the Kondivite and Guntupalli caves.[7]
Lomas Rishi has no Ashoka inscription, perhaps because it has never been completed due to structural rock slide problems.[8] It is generally considered, however, that it was also created around 260 BCE, like the other caves, because of the similarity of the internal structure and the degree of finish of the rock, the walls being perfectly polished, with the exception of the vault whose digging was interrupted. It has a much later inscription of Anantavarman above the entrance, from the 5th century CE.
Entrances of Sudama Cave, and further, Lomas Rishi Cave, Barabar Hill.
Unfinished interior (floor and ceiling) of Lomas Rishi cave. The rocky bumps left in the state on the ground appear in the farther left corner.
Inscription of Anantavarman above the entrance, 5th century of our era.
Development of the Chaitya Arch from Lomas Rishi Cave on, from a book by Percy Brown.
According to Gupta, the theory that Lomas Rishi would not have received Ashoka's inscription because it was in a state of incompleteness, is undermined by the fact that the cave of Vivaskarma, another cave of Barabar, although it is not finished, was nevertheless consecrated by Ashoka.[7] The consecration of a cave could therefore be done in the course of work. This could induce that Lomas Rishi, with its bas-reliefs, is actually posterior to Ashoka. Gupta actually believes that Lomas Rishi is posterior to both Ashoka and his grandson Dasaratha, and would have been built at the end of the Maurya Empire, under the reign of his last Emperor Brihadratha, and abruptly halted in 185 BC with the assassination of Brihadratha and the coup d'état of Pushyamitra Sunga, founder of the Sunga dynasty. Pushyamitra Sunga is also known to have persecuted Buddhists and Ajivikas, which would explain the immediate cessation of work.[7] According to Gupta, the abrupt interruption of the works is suggested by the lack of finishing, even approximate, of the ground, with for example the abandonment in the state of some pikes of the rocks which would have required only a few minutes of chipping to be removed in order to obtain a fairly regular floor.[7]
Questions of date and religious affiliation[]
Ashoka dedicated the caves of Sudama and Visvakarma to the ascetics called "Ajivikas" in the 12th year of his reign, when his religious evolution towards Buddhism was not yet fully completed.[15] The precise identity of the Ajivikas is not well known, and it is even unclear if they were a divergent sect of the Buddhists or the Jains.[16]
Later, Ashoka built the caves of Lomas Rishi (without dated inscription, but posterior to Sudama on architectural grounds) and Karna Chopar (19th year of his reign), at a time when he had become a firm advocate of Buddhism, as known from the Edicts of Ashoka.[15] It was initially thought that Karna Chopar may have been dedicated to the Buddhists, based on a former reading of the inscription at the entrance of the cave, corrected by Harry Falk in 2007: the new reading shows that Karna Chopar too had been dedicated to the Ajivikas.[17] Since Lomas Rishi has no dedicatory inscription, it has been suggested that it may had been dedicated to the Buddhists.[15] The affiliation of Lomas Rishi to Buddhism, although unproven, would be coherent with the fact that the architecture of the gate of Lomas Rishi became a reference for the development of the Chaitya arch in Buddhist cave architecture for the following centuries, whereas the Hindus or the Jains caves essentially did not follow this architectural example.[15] This would also mean that the decorated gate of Lomas Rishi was a Buddhist invention, which was emulated in Buddhist architecture in the following centuries.[15] After the Barabar caves, the earliest known rock-cut Buddhist monasteries date to the 1st century BCE in the Western Ghats in western India, such as the Nasik Caves.[16]
Sudama cave[]
The Sudama cave is located on the southern side of Barabar granite hill. It is close to Lomas Rishi, and on its left. It consists of two rooms: a rectangular room measuring 9.98x5.94m, and a semi-hemispherical room 6m in diameter, which is accessed from the rectangular room by a narrow rectangular passage. This is probably the first cave in the group to have been dug. This cave was dedicated by Emperor Ashoka in 257 BCE (12th year of his reign) as evidenced by an inscription in Brahmi using his protocol name (Priyadarsin, "He who brings joy") found in the entrance of the cave, whereas the cave of Lomas Rishi did not receive a dedicatory inscription:[8]
