BANDAVGARH TIGER RESERVE

1.CONTEXT

The Archaeological Survey of India reported 26 Buddhist caves in Madhya Pradesh Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

2.FINDINGS

• Caves the earliest of which date back to the 2 nd -5^th centuries BC
• The caves can be dated to the 2^nd century and can be gleaned from the inscriptions etched on their walls
• These inscriptions written in Brahmi script, in the Prakrit language, also tell us that they were built as resting spaces for merchants and traders.
• Archaeological remains of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism, such as Chaitya-shaped doors and cells containing stone beds
• The 26 caves that were found are associated with the Mahayana sect of Buddhism and date back to the same time as the famous Ajanta caves in Aurangabad
• The remains of 26 temples, two mathas , two stupas,46 idols and sculptures,26 fragments, and 19 water bodies
• A Buddhist pillar fragment containing a miniature stupa carving, dating to the 2^nd-3^rd century AD and 24 Brahmi inscriptions from the 2^nd -5 th centuries AD.
• A votive stupa has also been reported for the first time

3.CHRONOLOGICAL PERIOD

• The temples are from more recent times –the Kalachuri period,9-11 th centuries
• While the water bodies date to the 2-15 th centuries AD.
• Among the kings named in the inscription are Shri Bhimsena, Maharaja Pothasiri, and Bhattadeva.

4.BAGHELKHAND

5.KEY TERMS

5.1.Mahayana Buddhism

• Mahayana means the ''Great Vehicle,'' 
•  It is the largest school of Buddhist thought in the world. It is one of the two Buddhist groups, the other being Theravada Buddhism, that were created by the great schisms after the Second Buddhist council in 383 B. C.E.
• Mahayana is based primarily on the teachings of the Buddha and other Buddhists, including bodhisattvas, who are enlightened individuals who have decided to stay in the human realm and assist other humans in achieving enlightenment rather than entering nirvana.
• The most common practices of Mahayana Buddhism are the recitation of mantras and meditation.

5.2.AJANTA CAVES 

• The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. During the Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group. 
• The caves at Ajanta are excavated out of a vertical cliff above the left bank of the river Waghora in the hills of Ajanta.
• They are thirty in number, including the unfinished ones, of which five (caves 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) are chaityagrihas (sanctuary), and the rest, are sangharamas or viharas (monastery).
• The caves are connected with the river by rock-cut staircases. The excavation activity was carried out in two different phases separated by an interval of about four centuries.
• The first phase coincides with the rule of the Satavahana dynasty from about the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE, while the second phase corresponds to the Basim branch of the Vakataka dynasty with their Asmaka and Rishika feudatories in the 5th to 6th centuries CE.
• Altogether, six caves (caves 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15A) were excavated in the first phase by Hinayana/Theravadin followers of Buddhism, wherein Buddha was worshipped in an anionic/symbolic form.
• These caves are simple and austere and carry mural paintings sparsely. The chaityagrihas are characterized by a vaulted ceiling and an apsidal end, the façade dominated by a horseshoe-shaped window, known as a chaitya window
• In the second phase, the rupestral activity was dominated by the Mahayana followers of Buddhism, where Buddha was worshipped in an icon/idol form. The earlier caves were reused, and several new ones were excavated

5.3.KALACHURIS

• The Kalachuris, also known as Kalachuris of Mahishmati, were an Indian dynasty that ruled in west-central India between the 6th and 7th centuries.
• The Kalachuri territory included parts of present-day Gujarat Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra Their capital was probably located at Mahismati.
• Epigraphic and numismatic evidence suggests that the earliest of the Ellora and Elephant  cave monuments were built during the Kalachuri rule.

Source: Indian Express