Udayagiri Caves

The Udayagiri Caves (23:32:11N 77:46:20E) feature some of the oldest Hindu cave temples. They are located in the city of Vidisha, northeast of Bhopal in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. They were carved and completed under the patronage of Chandragupta II, Emperor of the Gupta Empire, in the late 4th and 5th century CE. One of India's most important archaeological sites from the Gupta period, it is currently a tourist site under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India.

Udayagiri consists of a substantial U-shaped plateau immediately next to the River Bes. Located a short distance from the earthen ramparts of ancient Besnagar, Udayagiri is about 4 km from the town of Vidisha and about 13 km from the Buddhist site of Sanchi. Udayagiri is best known for a series of rock-cut sanctuaries and images excavated into hillside in the early years of the fifth century CE. The site is notable for its ancient monumental relief sculpture of Hindu god Vishnu, in his incarnation as the boar-headed Varaha, rescuing the earth symbolically represented by Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk as described in Hindu mythology. The site has important inscriptions of the Gupta dynasty belonging to the reigns of Chandragupta II (c. 375-415) and Kumaragupta I (c. 415-55). In addition to these remains, Udayagiri has a series of rock-shelters and petroglyphs, ruined buildings, inscriptions, water systems, fortifications and habitation mounds, all of which have been only partially investigated. The complex consists of twenty caves, of which one is dedicated to Jainism and all others to Hinduism.