The Bagh Caves are a group of nine rock-cut monuments, situated among the southern slopes of the Vindhya Range in Bagh town of Dhar district in

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

in central

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. These monuments are located at a distance of 97 km from Dhar town. These are renowned for

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

paintings by master painters of ancient India. The caves are examples of Indian rock-cut architecture, rather than naturally formed. The Bagh caves, like those at Ajanta, were excavated by master craftsmen on perpendicular sandstone rock face of a hill on the far bank of a seasonal stream, the Baghani.

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

in inspiration, of the nine caves, only five have survived. All of them are ' viharas' or resting places of monks monasteries having quadrangular plan. A small chamber, usually at the back, forms the ' chaitya', the prayer hall. Most significant of these five extant caves is the Cave 4, commonly known as the ''Rang Mahal'' (Palace of Colors). The Bagh Caves were quarried in the 5th-6th century AD, in the very late stages of Buddhism in India, and long after most of the Indian Buddhist caves had been built, many of them since the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE. They are believed to have been built during the 5th-7th century. The Archaeological Survey of India has restored the caves over 17 years.

The paintings

The paintings on the wall and ceilings of the ''Vihara''s of Bagh, the fragments of which are still visible in Cave 3 and Cave 4 (remnants seen also in Caves 2, 5 and 7), were executed in tempera. Cave 2 is the best preserved cave, also known as "Pandava Cave" These paintings are materialistic rather than spiritualistic. Characteristics of paintings are like those of

Ajanta Caves The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Buddhist caves in India, Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century Common Era, BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, Aurangabad district of Maharashtra sta ...

. The ground prepared was a reddish-brown gritty and thick mud plaster, laid out on the walls and ceilings. Over the plaster, lime-priming was done, on which these paintings were executed. Some of the most beautiful paintings were on the walls of the portico of Cave 4. To prevent further loss of the values of Indian classical art, most paintings were carefully removed in 1982 and today can be seen in the Gujari Mahal Archeological Museum, in

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

. File:Bagh Caves statues.jpg, Mural statues File:PAINTING IN BAGH CAVE 2 Bodhisattva.jpg, Painting of a Bodhisattva in Bagh Cave 2 File:Bagh Cave 4 Details of Painting-1.jpg, Bagh Cave 4 Details of painting File:BAGH Bodhisttva-1.jpg, Bagh Caves, Painting of a Bodhisattva

Date

A copperplate inscription of Maharaja Subandhu recording his donation for the repair of the ''vihara'' was found at the site of Cave 2. Although the date of the Bagh inscription is missing, his Badwani copperplate inscription is dated in the year (Gupta era) 167 (487); the repair of Cave 2 took place in the late 5th century.Verma, Archana (2007). ''Cultural and Visual Flux at Early Historical Bagh in Central India'', Oxford: Archaeopress, , p.19 File:Bagh Caves overview.jpg, Caves overview File:Bagh Caves entrance.jpg, Entrance File:Bagh Caves pillars.jpg, Pillars File:Bagh Caves front.jpg, Front of the caves File:Bagh Caves monumental statue.jpg, Monumental statues File:Bagh Caves sign.jpg, ASI notice.

The paintings

Date

See also

Notes

Further reading