Monday, December 5, 2011

Udaygiri, Mountain of the Sunrise

In Udaygiri (State: Madhya Pradesh) which is 13kms away from Sanchi there are a series of rock-cut sanctuaries and images excavated into hillside. These carvings in the caves are carved during the Gupta Empire between 4th and 5th Century. The literal translation of Udaygiri is the 'Mountain of the Sunrise'.

The caves here are numbered for convenience of identifying. The most famous sculpture is the monumental figure of Vishnu in his incarnation as the boar-headed Varaha. Another interesting sculpture is that of Shivlinga where hair is tied up into a topknot.

I think there are alltogether 14 to 16 caves. I could explore only few caves due to shortage of time. This was the last place that I visited during my trip of Madhya Pradesh state. We shall explore the following caves in detail very soon.

46 comments:

black eyed susans kitchen said...

Amazing photos of such ancient places!

Vee said...

You travel quite extensively, which must be lovely. Everything is always so interesting and culturally so very different from anything I know. I'll be interested in those caves you're going to feature.

Kavita Saharia said...

Madhya Pradesh is now on my travel wish list after reading all your post on it.

sappy said...

The sculptures of Hari(in the form of Varaha) and Hara(in the form of Shivalinga) are both very very interesting.Such variants in sculpture are really not common.Thanks for exploring!

Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook said...

Very interesting sculptures! Beautiful carving.

Be_withme said...

beautiful

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Fine architecture, captured so very well.

eileeninmd said...

Wow, beautiful carvings. Lovely mosaic, Rajesh!

Teamgsquare said...

Wow , there are some many udaygiris in India .

Jeevan said...

Interesting sculptures rajesh!

Zuzana said...

Very interesting, caves fascinate me.;)
xoxo

Anonymous said...

Love that sculpture in the last photo.

Can't wait to see the caves.

Aakash @ Love poems said...

Beautiful pics, I love exploring caves and historical monuments. I hope someday I get to travel to Udaygiri and visit these beautiful old caves.

Travel France Online said...

Once more very elaborate carvings! Quite impressive and i am sure there's a lot to discover in all these caves!

Sylvia K said...

Such an interesting post and terrific captures as always, Rajesh! I do love the amazing detail in the carvings! Hope you have a great week!

Sylvia

Al said...

Nice shots, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

magiceye said...

a treasure!

Roberto Machado Alves said...

I love this kind of works in stone. They are true works of art.

Greetings
Roberto, Rio de Janeiro

lotusleaf said...

An unusual place with historic sculptures. Thanks for sharing.

Indrani said...

There is one in one of the Ellora caves. Great pics.

Carver said...

The caves seem like a fascinating place to explore.

LifeRamblings said...

lovely sculptures.thanks for sharing.

Robin said...

Beautiful carvings, and to think of all the work that went into making them. Quite astounding.

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Leovi said...

Delighted and happy to enjoy the beautiful sculptures that we give. Greetings.

joshi daniel said...

very cool!

Lowell said...

It is fascinating to think that these things were carved in caves so very long ago and that they've been preserved so well over the years!

alicesg said...

Very interesting story about the sculpture. Looking forward to seeing the caves.

Reader Wil said...

Amazing what people could do so long ago! Thanks for sharing.

anthonynorth said...

The determination to do that in caves is marvellous. Another excellent post.

Roger Owen Green said...

quite UNUSUAL!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

MaR said...

Very interesting, as always.

U is for...

George said...

The carvings are beautiful. I look forward to seeing the two caves you explored in detail.

Liz said...

Very interesting photo.

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Maria @ LSS said...

Great shot!

Joy said...

Looks a fascinating place to explore.

Gigi Ann said...

Interesting post for the U today.

Eden said...

Beautiful carvings. Great shots.

Mildred said...

Great captures of wonderful carvings!
Thanks for sharing:o)

***
Happy day****

Rajesh said...

Thank you all for appreciating the sculptures. We shall explore about them in more detail.

RIZALENIO said...

Wow! These sculptures are wonderful.

Suzy said...

Thanks for sharing a bit of history.

Ramakrishnan said...

Amazing caves from the Gupta period - Gupta Dynasty is considered the Golden Age in Indian history considering the peace and harmony that prevailed for many centuries devoid of war - and great growth in art, architecture, sculpture, paintings etc.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I can't wait to see how your pictures in the caves turned out! What a wonderful place this must be. Just the name (thank you for supplying the translation) is beautiful!

Panchali said...

I have been there years back...so the pics made me nostalgic.
The best sculpture are on the pillars, arches and to the rear of the courtyard...aah! mountain of the sunrise:) beautiiful shot!

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Rajesh said...

Thank you all for the appreciation.