DUJ 2017 PrepTalk - Udayagiri and Khandagiri - Badri Seshadri

UDAYAGIRI (உதயகி ) &
KHANDAGIRI (க டகி )
BADRI SESHADRI

Disclaimers
I have never visited these monuments. Whatever little I am saying has come from a thin book by
Debala Mitra and a few research papers.
The photos I have seen in these printed publications and online are not good enough to give me
a clear picture of many things, including the size and scale of the caves.
Websites/online resources are equally thin on content.
The usual excuses, “limited time” and “limited understanding/intellect” always apply.

What is the importance of U & K?
Earliest extant Jaina caves(?). Unique East Indian idiom in cave architecture.
Almost co-eval with or very soon after Buddhist developments at Pitalkhora, Bharhut, Sanchi
etc.
Gives an indication of Jain religion which is different from what we know based on some of our
visits.
History of a great monarch Kharavela of the Kalinga region comes entirely from one single
Brahmi inscription in this area. (Like the Ravikirti inscription of Aihole on Pulakesi II Chalukya).
There are a few minor Mahameghavahana dynasty (to which Kharavela belongs) inscriptions too
found here.
Distinct narrative panels of which many have not been figured out even to this day. The story of
Udayana and Vasavadatta, I will elaborate.

Udayagiri
Cave 1 – Rani Gumpha
Cave 2 – Rajaghara Gumpha
Cave 3 – Chhota Hathi Gumpha
Cave 4 – Alakapuri Gumpha
Cave 5 – Jaya Vijaya Gumpha
Cave 6 – Panasa Gumpha
Cave 7 – Thakurani Gumpha
Cave 8 – Patalapuri Gumpha
Cave 9 – Manchapuri and Svargapuri

Udayagiri
Cave 10 – Ganesa Gumpha
Cave 11 – Jambesvara Gumpha
Cave 12 – Bagh (Vyagra) Gumpha
Cave 13 – Sarpa Gumpha
Cave 14 – Hathi Gumpha
Cave 15 – Dhanaghara Gumpha
Cave 16 – Haridasa Gumpha
Cave 17 – Jagannatha Gumpha
Cave 18 – Rasui Gumpha

Khandagiri
Cave 1 – Tatowa Gumpha 1
Cave 2 – Tatowa Gumpha 2
Cave 3 – Ananta Gumpha
Cave 4 – Tentuli Gumpha
Cave 5 – Khandagiri Gumpha
Cave 6 – Dhyana Gumpha
Cave 7 – Navamuni Gumpha
Cave 8 – Barabhuji Gumpha
Cave 9 – Trisula Gumpha

Khandagiri
Cave 10 – Ambika Gumpha
Cave 11 – Lalatendukesari Gumpha
Cave 12 – Unnamed
Cave 13 – Unnamed
Cave 14 – Ekadasi Gumpha
Cave 15 - Unnamed

Salient features
Largest and most beautiful of the caves.
Excavated on three sides of a quadrangle. Two storeyed.
Upper storey is not exactly situated above the lower storey (like in Ellora’s multi-storeyed caves)
but recedes a bit, resulting in an open terrace.
Architecturally, not as neatly arranged as Ajanta or the ones we are more familiar with in the
Pallava/Pandya/Chalukya territory. Cells have multiple entrances. Seems there is no clear
symmetry or balance.
Pillars/pilasters are square at the bottom and top and chamfered in the middle section into an
octagon. But they have their own style, different from Mahendra’s pillars. They gradually taper
from bottom up or top down. The central octagon is a small portion. Not the roughly 1/3, 1/3,
1/3 model of Mahendra.

Cell Entrance
Entrances are embellished with side pilasters crowned by animals
Over them, there are torana arches with flowers, creepers and animal motifs.
The torana arches over successive entrances are connected by railings.
The space between the arches and the roof joint are filled with narrative panels.
Many of these panels cannot be understood even now. There is no obvious Jaina religious
connection.
[I must apologise here for not producing one-to-one pictures to explain some narrative panels
because Debala Mitra’s book has very few black and white ones and the Wikipedia/Online
images are mostly unlabelled and with my limited knowledge, it is enormous effort to connect
them properly. Perhaps our trip can generate a coherent set of images, properly labelled on a
cave to cave basis, geographically clearly marked and explanation added.]

Right wing
Single cell with three entrances, pillared verandah and a bench in the rear.
Doorkeepers on the wall flanking the cell.
The better preserved one has a spear in hand and a sheather sword.

Panels on the right wing
1. A pious couple standing reverentially with folded hands, flanked by a dwarf under a tree and a
woman holding a tray of offerings in one hand and an object on her other hand.
2. One male and two females sitting on a bench with folded hands in an act of devotion, flanked
by a woman holding a tray and a woman holding a vase. The man has an umbrella over his head.
3. Four women playing music and a fifth is dancing. One playing mrdangam, second a drum,
third a harp and fourth a flute.
4. A man with folded hands accompanied by a boy and two women holding a tray of offerings
and a vase.

Left wing
Three cells, distributed on the three sides of a verandah.
One side has a window as well as a door!
Doorkeepers/sentries are highly damaged by weather.

Main wing
Consists of four cells, three on the rear and fourth to the right of the verandah.
Central rear cell has three doors. The two side rear cells have two doors each and the right cell
has only one door.
Over the toranas of the arched entrance, there are many narrations, which mostly we cannot
make out.

Panels of main wing
1. A double-storeyed structure. A person is looking out of the single door of the upper storey. A
woman is standing in the balcony. Lower storey has two doors, each with a woman in it. There is
a mango tree by the side of this structure.
2. Mostly worn out. Three figures riding on an animal and a fourth with a sword.
3. A royal personage with an umbrella sitting on an animal, with attendants accompanying him
and a horseman in the front.
4. A group of men on elephants.
5. A royal personage with two followers behind, one holding an umbrella and the other a sword,
four others reverentially folding their hands.
6. Worn out. Three standing figures, one of which a king with an umbrella over him.

Panels of main wing
7. A royal figure with two attendants, one holding an umbrella, the other with folded hands. Two
women carrying trays. Two figures in a kneeling posture, whose horses are tied at a distance. By
the side of the horses, three more persons are standing with folded hands.
8. Reception for a king after a victory in a battle? King standing under an umbrella held by an
attendant. Two warriors with long swords over their shoulders. Four women and two men in
turbans (ministers?) welcome the king with outstretched hands. The women have pitchers in
their hands and seem to be bathing the king.
Debala Mitra thinks these could be depictions of Kharavela’s digvijaya and him being welcomed
by his subjects as he returns home.

Upper storey main wing
Four cells, two doorways each.
Over the carved arches, auspicious Jaina symbols such as Srivatsa, nandipada, snake and lotus.
[Those of you who visited Aihole would have seen a mirror and a few other symbols in the Lad
Khan temple. That is also part of the Ashta mangala – eight symbols which are considered
auspicious, and used by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.]
A series of narrative panels, which have not been satisfactorily interpreted says Debala Mitra.
(Descriptions in the next page)

Panels of Upper storey main wing
1. A fully bedecked flying viyadhara, carrying flowers and garlands as offering for someone.
2. A forest with flowering trees and a cave with a lion in it. At the foot of the hill a lotus lake in
which three wild elephants are confronting one man and ten women. Three members are
throwing all kinds of objects on the elephants to drive them away. Some are running away in
fright. One has fallen down and is seen being helped by another.
3. Two monkeys are cowering in fear seeing a snake hissing. A man is lying down (sick or injured)
resting on the lap of a woman inside a rock cut cave. A woman warrior in a sword and shield is
guarding the cave, while a warrior with an unsheathed sword is coming there to attack them.
After a violent combat, he defeats the woman and carries her away. [This story is also
represented in Cave 10 – Ganesa Gumpha.]
4. Considered to be Sakuntalam. A royal person has alighted from a horse held by a groom.
There are three attendants holding umbrella, fly whisk, a staff or a sword and a water pot. In the
next scene the king is aiming to shoot a deer accompanied by two fawns with an arrow. (contd.)

Panels of Upper storey main wing
(contd.) A woman with folded hands begs the king not to kill the deer. King has his bow rested
and shows abhaya mudra with his right hand. The deer is now resting at the foot of the tree.
5. Partly effaced. A royal couple is seated watching a dance performance accompanied by music.
Queen is depicted with five attendants, one carrying an umbrella, one a fan, others carrying
flowers, garlands etc. Three women are dancing, while three are playing a mrdangam, cymbals
and a harp respectively.
6. Damaged
7. Amorous couple, shown thrice.
8. Damaged. Some elephants can be discerned.
9. Flying vidyadhara holding garland and flowers (the whole thing ends the way it started)

Upper storey, right wing
Two door guards, one is clearly a foreigner and the other an Indian.
Foreigner in kilt, wearing boots, has a sword hanging, has a hand on his thigh.
Indian is bare footed, clad in a dhoti, and has a sword hanging, has a hand on his chest.

Cave 9 – Manchapuri
and Svargapuri

Features
Two storeyed. Lower is called Manchapuri and upper, Svargapuri.
Lower storey has four cells in two wings.
Both wings of the lower storey have dvara palas.
Some pillars have been reconstructed as the originals had fallen away.
All doorways have pilasters and capitals with adorned animals, arches crowned with srivatsa or
nandipada, floral and creeper designs containing visuals of animals chased by boys. (like in
Ajanta?)

Panel & inscriptions in Manchapuri
1. A Jaina religious symbol (disfigured) under an umbrella worshipped by people on either side
in a kneeling pose. Four people are standing with folded hands. One of these four could be a
king and the entire entourage might have come in an elephant which is standing at a distance.
Two flying gandharvas with musical instruments and a flying Vidyadhara carrying flowers in a
tray are going towards the central object of veneration. A portion of this panel is damaged, in
which another flying Vidyadhara’s legs can be surmised.
2. An inscription recording the dedication of a Mahameghavahana king called Kudepasiri or
Vakradeva. While Debala Mitra says she is not sure whether he was a successor or predecessor
of Kharavela, later papers even say he is the second son of Kharavela, who went on to be the
king after Kharavela. There is another elder son(?) Vadukha whose inscription is also here and he
is denoted as a prince, but it appears that it was Kudepasiri who ended up on the throne.

Svargapuri
One big cell with three doors, a small side cell with one entrance and a benched verandah.
Doors have arches with makara torana.
There is a dedication by the chief queen of Kharavela here.

Features
Two dwelling cells and a benched verandah in the front.
There were originally five pillars in the verandah, but many centuries later, when a Ganesa
image was carved on the wall, two pillars were knocked off to make more space in front of the
right cell.
Fully rounded sculptures of two detached elephants each holding branches of a mango tree over
a lotus at the entrance of this cave were probably placed here around the same time as when
Ganesa relief was carved.
Usual door designs, arches, makara torana, srivatsa, animal, creeper motifs and so on.

Panels in Ganesa Gumpha
1. Abduction scene as in Cave 1. At the entrance of a rock cut cave, a man is lying on a bed with
his head resting on his right hand. (In Cave 1, the head was on the lap of a woman.) A woman
sits nearby, watching him. A woman is leading a warrior towards this pair. A duel erupts between
this warrior and a woman. Finally the warrior defeats the woman and carries her off.
2. Elopement of Vasavadatta, princess of Ujjain, with King Udayana of Kausambi. This is a
fantastic story which has survived from even before Arthasastra, in Hindu puranas, Buddhist
texts, Jaina texts, in plays of Bhasa, later that of Harsha and in Brhat Katha, Katha Sarita Sagara
and so on and so forth. Via Brhat Katha, it has come to Tamil as Perungathai, and from there it
has become a Tamil ‘small kavya’ (siRu kAppiyam) Udayana kumAra caritham. A mention of
Vasavadatta is found in Thirumangai Alwar’s SiRiya Thirumadal.
A party of soldiers armed with swords and shields are hotly pursuing three persons mounted on
the back of an elephant. A woman is acting as the mahout, driving the elephant forward with a
goad, and also is carrying a harp (which is that of Udayana). Udayana is seen shooting arrows on
the soldiers pursuing his party.

The accompanying woman is throwing coins at the soldiers to stop their advance. One of the
soldiers is falling on the ground to collect the coins. In the next scene, the three people alight
from the elephant in a forest. Udayana leads his team into the forest.
It has to be noted that there are plenty of variations across the various versions of Udayana’s
story, except for the common themes, which I will briefly narrate now.
Udayana has a special skill and a celestial harp with which he can bewitch animals, particularly
elephants and subdue them. King Pradyota wants a great music teacher to teach his daughter
Vasavadatta and he is told Udayana is the right candidate. Since they can’t get him to come
there to teach her, they plan to abduct him. In a version of Trojan horse, they place a soldiers
filled elephant like device in a forest. Udayana wants to tame this elephant, plays his harp and
climbs the device when the soldiers come out, capture him and take him to Pradyota.
Pradyota requests Udayana to teach his daughter but tells him she is one-eyed and would not
want to be seen. Likewise, he tells his daughter that her teacher is a leper who can’t be seen.

One day, Vasavadatta makes a mistake in singing and in the altercation that follows they both
discover the other one is perfect, fall in love and unite.
Udayana’s minister Yougantarayana in the meantime vows to get Udayana released, comes there
to their rescue. Egged on by him, Udayana, Vasavadatta and her friend Kanchanamala, another
minister of Udayana and perhaps one more person mount an elephant and escape. They are
pursued by Nalagiri, an elephant tamed by Udayana but now in the army of Pradyota. Somehow
the pair escape, marry and live together.
There are further twists to the story, which results in Yougantarayana faking a fire accident in
which Vasavadatta is whisked out. A marital alliance is forced by Yougantarayana to strengthen
Udayana who weds a princess Padmavathi. Then Yougantarayana brings Vasavadatta back.
Vasavadatta begets Naravahana. The story continues on and on until Udayana goes to forest
after relinquishing his kingdom to his son from Padmavathi. (We shall give up on this story for
now.)

Features
Nothing important architecturally. But historically, the inscription on the brow of the rock above
the cavern is extremely significant.
A masonry shed was built in 1902 in order to protect the inscription from the weather.
The inscription faces the Ashoka edict in Dhauli roughly six km from here.
17 lines in the inscription in Brahmi script, Prakrit language, many lines difficult to read and
interpret.

King Kharavela and his exploits
Kharavela spent his first 15 years in sports and amusement. Was appointed crown prince when
he was 16. Stayed on as crown prince until 24, when he was crowned as the king of Kalinga
(Mahameghavahana dynasty).
In Year 1, he repaired the gates and the buildings that had been damaged by storms, built
reservoirs and tanks, and restored the gardens.
In Year 2, he defeats Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty (modern Andhra) and threatens
Assaka’s capital Asika Nagara (near modern-day Nagpur).
In Year 3, learns/plays music and entertains his people with festive gatherings.
In Year 4, he attacked Rathika and Bhojaka kings.
In Year 5, he commissioned water works.

In Year 6, probably performed Rajasuya yagna and entertained people.
In Year 7, (details lost but according to one interpretation) his wife gives birth to a son.
In Year 8, Kharavela captures Rajagriha. Seeing this, a Yavana King retreats to Mathura. (Could be
Vima Khadpises of the Kushana kingdom say some scholars.)
In Year 9, gives a lot of largesse to Brahmins.
In Year 10, sets out an expedition all over Bharatvarsha (start of digvijaya).
In Year 11, (records lost. Many different interpretations.)
In Year 12, defeats kings of Uttarapatha. He builds lofty structures. Builds storehouses for storing
wealth brought from Pandya country.
In Year 13, he is seen to be a benefactor of all religious sects.

Features
Twin serpent on the door arches. Hence the name (Ananta).
Most important in Khandagiri group of caves, because of the reliefs.
On the back wall of the cell, a srivatsa, a nandipada and a swastika are carved over stepped
pedestals. Much later, a Tirtankara has been carved below the Srivatsa and Swastika.
Beautifully carved façade of the cell, with pilasters, ghata bases, capitals consisting animals, bulls
and lions, resting above a bell shaped lotus.

Panels
1. A royal elephant attended by a smaller one on each side, holding stalks of a lotus and other
buds.
2. A royal person, with female attendants on either side with fly-whisks, driving a chariot drawn
by four horses. Above them are representation of moon, sun and stars. The figure is generally
associated with Surya (says Debala Mitra). A pot-bellied dwarf holds a water pot and a banner
near the right wheel of the chariot.
3. Lakshmi in a lotus lake with stalks of full blown lotuses entwining around her arms and being
bathed by water from pitchers held by two elephants standing on her two sides. A pair of birds
are pecking at the lotuses.
4. A sacred tree is being worshipped by a woman offering a lotus. A man is standing nearby with
folded hands. Two dwarfs bring offerings. (The tree may be the kevala-tree of a Tirtankara, says
Debala Mitra.)

Features
Carved on the walls (at a later time) are nine Tirtankaras along with their sasana devis and a
smaller figure of Chandraprabha.
Originally two cells with a common verandah. Later converted into a sanctuary by excavating the
floor, removing the wall between the cells and carving the Tirtankaras on the wall. There are five
inscriptions here of 11th century, Somavansi dynasty.
Seven Tirtankaras are sitting cross-legged, in the following order: Rishabanatha, Ajitanatha,
Sambhavanatha, Abhinandana, Vasupujya, Parsvanatha and Neminatha. On either side stand fly
whisk bearers. Below them are their Sasana devis, Chakresvari, Rohini, Prajnapti, Vajrasrinkhala,
Gandhari, Padmavati and Amra.
There is an image of Ganesa with his modakas, a hatchet, a rosary and a radish(!) [Debala Mitra
says these seven are reminescent of Sapta Matrikas of the Hindu tradition.]

Features
On the right wall, reliefs of Parsvanatha and Rishabanatha both seated, with fly-whisk bearers.
Below there is a naga figure. Inscriptions are carved here.
On the left wall is a small figure of Chandraprabha seated on a lotus.

Features
Two 12-armed Sasana devis are carved on the side walls. (Hence the name)
In all 27 figures of Tirtankara are carved on the walls of the cell distributed on all the three walls.
Parsvanatha is carved twice. (Hence 25)
All are identical sitting cross-legged. Luckily their lanchanas are marked underneath, so they can
be identified.
Beneath the Tirtankaras, their respective Sasana devis are carved.
In the verandah, on the left wall, 12-armed Chakresvari is carved. On the right wall, 12-armed
Rohini is carved.

Features
Originally a cell with three doorways and a verandah, subsequently reconverted like the two
previous ones.
On the three walls are crudely carved nude Tirtankaras, all 24 of them.
Parsvanatha, instead of being placed 23rd (before Mahavira) is actually placed at the centre.
Looking at the prominence given in all the caves for Parsvanatha, there must be some
significance to this.
Also installed inside are three chlorite images of Rishabanatha. They did not originally belong to
the cave. But were placed much much later.

DUJ 2017 PrepTalk - Udayagiri and Khandagiri - Badri Seshadri

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