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Jaina Caves in Orissa: Its Architectural Significance
ANANDA CHANDRA SAHOO
Jainism entered into Orissa in its căujjama form and continued to flourish throughout the ancient period, sometimes with royal support and in the status of the State religion, and at some other time in its low ebb. During its long course of history it received royal patronage of different ruling houses of ancient Orissa, a fact attested to by both literary and archaeological evidences. Here we propose to discuss the architectural significance of the rock-cut caves, that were dedicated to the followers of Jaina religion in ancient Orissa. In this connection it may be pointed out that besides the caves of the twin-hills (Udayagiri and Khandagiri) situated at a distance of 5 km. to the north-west of Bhubaneswar (the present-day capital of Orissa), no other architectural remains have so far been discovered, that can be attributed to the Jainas. Keeping this in view here our discussion is centered on the caves at Udayagiri and Khandagiri.
The above mentioned hills are honeycombed with caves both large and small locally termed as gumpha,1 of which 44 are in Udayagiri, 19 are in Khandagiri and 3 are in Nilagiri,2 which is situated very near to the twin-hills. Amongst these caves, many have been seriously mutilated and destroyed also, so that at present there are 33 caves altogether (18 in Udayagiri and 15 in Khandagiri).
Most of these caves were excavated during the 1st century B.C. is attested to by the famous Hatigumpha inscription of king Kharavela of the Mahameghavahana dynasty of ancient Kalinga. The line 144 of
1 Fergusson is in the favour of describing the cave as gurbha or garbha-Illustration of the Rock-cut temples of India, p.2, footnote-1.
2 Bengal Orissa District Gazetteer (Puri), p. 284.
There is a good deal of controversy regarding the date of Kharavela. However, the late half of the 1st century B.C. has been the generally accepted theory. Cf. Indian Historical Quarterly, vol. V. p. 597; Roychaudhury, H.C., Political History of Ancient India, pp. 335-336; Majumdar, R.C., (ed), The Age of Imperial Unity, pp. 215-216; Chattopadhyaya, S., Early History of North India, pp. 56-59.
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terasame ca vase supavata vijayacake kumari pavate arahate pakhina sansitehi kayanisidiyaya....
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