The Dhank Caves are located near Dhank village near

Upleta Upleta is a city and tehsil in the Rajkot district of the state of Gujarat, India. It contains within it two towns and 49 villages. Geography Upleta is located at . It is about from Dhoraji, in the Rajkot district of Gujarat, on the banks of ...

Rajkot district Rajkot district is one of the 33 districts of the Indian state of Gujarat. Located in Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra peninsula, Rajkot city is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is the third-most advanced and the fourth-most po ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India. They were chiseled out of a calcareous sandstone outcropping during the regime of the

Western Satraps The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi: , ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India (extending from Saurashtra in the south and Malwa in the east, covering moder ...

. The caves are influenced by

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 ...

and Jain cultures. The Jain cave includes figures of Adinath,

Shantinath Śāntinātha () or Śānti is the sixteenth of Jainism in the present age (). According to traditional accounts, he was born to King Vishvasena and Queen Aćira of the Ikshvaku dynasty in the north Indian city of Hastinapur. His birth date ...

and Pārśva. These are considered to be the earliest Jain sculptures in

Kathiawad Kathiawar (), also known as Saurashtra, is a peninsula in the south-western Gujarat state in India, bordering the Arabian Sea and covering about . It is bounded by the Kutch district in the north, the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest, and by the ...

Details of Jain Carvings

This caves were carved in the seventh century A.D. and have a plain style of carving. This is one of the earliest rock cut cave of Gujarat. This place is also known as Dhankgiri and about 48 km of Junagadh in north west direction. on western side of the hill there are three niches. One niche is facing the door and another two are situated on either side of it. The door facing niche contains some Jain Images in

kayotsarga Kayotsarga ( , ) is a yogic posture which is an important part of the Jain meditation. It literally means "dismissing the body". A tirthankara is represented either seated in yoga posture or standing in the kayotsarga posture. ''Kayotsarga' ...

and meditation posture. Most of Savior sculpture do not contain a clear cognizance or symbol of

Tirthankara In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''Dharma (Jainism), dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a ''Tirtha (Jainism), tirtha'', a fordable passage across ''Saṃsā ...

but according to H. D. Sanklia this image represents Rishabhnatha. On either side of Jina two whisk bearers are depicted and Jina is sitting on a lion throne or Simhasan. There are two another mediation posture images of

saviors containing two whisk bearers on either side with serenity and tranquility on face. Triple canopies were depicted over the head of Jina. One of these image is depicted with Deer cognizance attributed to 16th Lord

Shantinatha Śāntinātha () or Śānti is the sixteenth of Jainism in the present age (). According to traditional accounts, he was born to King Vishvasena and Queen Aćira of the Ikshvaku dynasty in the north Indian city of Hastinapur. His birth date i ...

. One well preserved image of 23rd TIrthankara Parshvanatha is depicted in kayotsarga posture with long limbs parallel to body and cobra hood canopied. An image of Jaina yakshi ambika is also carved here who contains an infant in her arm and another with mango bud. from the ongoing discussion it is clearly evident that Dhank caves are attributed to Jainism and dwellers of these caves were Jain. Burgess did not say anything about the date of the Dhank caves but according to scholar H.D. Sanklia these caves could be hailed from third century AD after examining the Jaina sculpture's Style and Iconography. This cave is attributed to Shwetamber Jain. There is second set of caves nearby known as Jhunjhurijhar caves having small rock cut rooms and baked bricks pillars.

References

External links

* Jain rock-cut architecture Buddhist caves in Gujarat Buddhist monasteries in India Caves of Gujarat Rock-cut architecture of India Former populated places in India Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Caves containing pictograms in India Tourist attractions in Rajkot district 3rd-century Jain temples Monuments of National Importance in Gujarat Jain caves in India {{India-struct-stub