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The Barabar Hill Caves 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 ...
The Barabar caves are the first known and dated example of Mauryan polish, dedicated by Ashoka in several inscriptions, in the year 12 and the year 19 of his reign. The caves were carved from granite, an extremely hard rock, and finished with a very fine polishing of the inner surface, giving a mirror effect of great flatness, as well as an echo effect.
The real-life Barabar Caves were used by an Ajivika sect during 322–185 BCE and eventually became somewhat of a tourist attraction. [3] E. M. Forster, having heard about them, decided to visit during a trip to India in 1913 and was left impressed by them. [4] After the book and film version, there was more awareness of the real-life Barabar ...
Several Hindu inscriptions of the Maukhari king Anantavarman of the 5-6th century CE also appear in the Barabar Caves: an inscription of Anantavarman above the cave entrance of Lomas Rishi, [15] and the Gopika Cave Inscription and the Vadathika Cave Inscription in the caves of the Nagarjuni group, in the same caves where the dedicatory ...
For this reason, he tends to date the cave on the basis of its similarities with the caves of Barabar (general shape, trapezoidal entrance door, polishing, although extremely limited) to the time of Ashoka (260 BCE), or even a little earlier, making it the possible precursor of all artificial caves in India such as the Barabar Caves. [4]
There is another cave with the structure and polishing qualities of the Barabar caves, but without any inscription. This is the Sitamarhi Cave, 20 km from Rajgir, 10 km south-west of Hisua, also dated of the Maurya empire. It is smaller than the Barabar caves, measuring only 4.91x3.43m, with a ceiling height of 2.01m.
The Gopika Cave Inscription, also called the Nagarjuni Hill Cave Inscription II of Anantavarman or formerly the Gya inscription (referring to the nearby city of Gaya), [1] [2] is a 5th- or 6th-century CE Sanskrit inscription in Late Brahmi found in the Nagarjuni hill cave of the Barabar Caves group in Gaya district, Bihar, India. [3] [4]
There is another cave with the structure and polishing qualities of the Barabar caves, but without any inscription. This is the Sitamarhi Cave, 20 km from Rajgir, 10 km south-west of Hisua, also dated of the Maurya empire. It is smaller than the Barabar caves, measuring only 4.91x3.43m, with a ceiling height of 2.01m.