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Young World
Rock-cut architecture
G.V. RAMANA RAO
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These Buddhist caves converted into Hindu temples are a subject of controversy.
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PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR
Ancient:Undavalli caves.
Undavalli caves, located about 6 km from Vijayawada, across the Krishna River in Guntur district are fine examples of Indian rock-cut architecture. Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid natural rock. Caves have long been regarded as places of sanctity in our country. Caves that were enlarged or entirely man-made were considered to hold the same sanctity as natural caves.
In fact, the sanctum sanctorum in all Indian religious structures, even free standing ones, retain the same cave-like feeling of sacredness, being small and dark without natural light.
Whether Undavalli caves were created for the Buddhist as a vihara or they were rock-cut temples of a Hindu god is a subject of controversy even today. The reclining figure resting in the shadow of a many headed snake carved from a single block in the second level of the four-storey cave temple is worshipped by the people of the area as Anantapadmanabha Swami.
Gupta architecture
Other shrines in lower levels are dedicated to Trimurti and to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They are among the earliest examples of Gupta architecture, primarily primitive rock-cut monastery cells carved into the sandstone hills.
Gordon Mackenzie, a civil servant, who chronicled the history of the area in a manual written in 1883 recorded there were many small rock-cut shrines and mantapams about the hill and the largest was a four-storey temple with galleries and crudely sculptured figures.
Mackenzie said that Streynsham Master, a historian, did not mention the caves though he went that way in 1679. They were, however, recorded in a survey conducted by the British Empire in 1816. Boswell gave a detailed description of the caves in a manual he wrote in November 1870. He ascribed them to Buddhist origin.
Mackenzie said that Robert Sewell, another historian, who worked in this area extensively, felt that the caves were Hindu temples that belonged to a date very soon after the downfall of the Buddhist religion. Sewell spent a lot of time at the cave clearing the rubbish that collected in the galleries over several centuries.
Modern archaeologists seem to differ with their earlier counterparts. Former director of Archaeology Department V.V. Krishna Sastry says that the Undavalli Cave temples are ancient. They were originally Buddhist caves converted into Hindu temples by the East Chalukyans not later than the third or fourth century.
The statue of Mahaparinirvanabuddha was converted into that of Ananthapadmanabha Swami. The coils of the snake on which Vishnu is reclining look more like the petals of the lotus flower, a Buddhist symbol.
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