Kolvi Caves, or Kholvi Caves, are located at Kolvi village of

Jhalawar Jhalawar () is a city, municipal council and headquarter in Jhalawar district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located in the southeastern part of the state. It was the capital of the former princely state of Jhalawar, and is the admi ...

district in the state of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

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 ...

. They are carved out in

laterite Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...

rock hill. This

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 ...

site has

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

chaitya A chaitya, chaitya hall, chaitya-griha, (Sanskrit:''Caitya''; Pāli: ''Cetiya'') refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions. The term is most common in Buddhism, where it refers to a space with a stupa and a rounded ...

s containing figures of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

. An architectural style shows dominance of Mahyana sect in this region in the 8th-9th century CE. Around 50 caves have been found here. The caves has statues of Buddha in the

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

and standing position. The stupas and colossal statues of Buddha are archaeologically significant. Around Kolvi village similar caves have been discovered which proves existence of prosperous Buddhist civilization in the region. Though the evidence of Kolvi is very important to register presence of Buddhism in Rajasthan, the caves are very similar to the

Bagh Caves 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 in central India. These monuments are located at a distance of 97 km from Dh ...

and show cultural affinity with a region that is geaographically close.

History

They were first visited and reported by Dr. Impey in 1854. Cunnigham published his report on the caves later. The discovery of a rock-cut ''chaitya'' made Kolvi a striking and majestic site. These caves belong to a relatively later period. According to Cunningham, "another equally striking peculiarity about these topes is the possession of an excavated chamber for the reception of a statue. These chambers are invariably pierced to the centre of the tope, so that the enshrined statues of Buddha occupy the very same position in these modern ''chaityas,'' which the relics of Buddha filled in the ancient ''stupas'' of Asoka. They are, in fact, no longer ''stupas,'' but real temples, which differ only in their form from the common structural shrines of the Buddhists." On the basis of this innovation they have been assigned a date later than the caves of Dhamnar and Bagh in Malwa ranging from 700-900 CE.

Architecture

The caves are in a state of natural weathering resulting in complete damage on the northern and eastern sides, but their remains are important in the architecture. The group has 50 caves, many of which have lost their figure faces due to decaying. Currently the caves are not occupied. Few caves have open or pillared verandah. Originally ruins of 64 monk cells and similar structures were reported from Kholvi but presently Archaeological survey of India has located only 45 structures. A few elaborate multi-storey structures have also been preserved. The ''stupas'' and meditation halls also sporadically sport a circumabulation path or ''pradakshina'' path. The Kholvi shrines have images of the Buddha. The largest image is a 12 feet standing Buddha in a preaching posture. File:ASI Kholvi Caves plan.jpg, Kholvi Caves, plan and elevation File:Caves no 34 and 35.jpg, Kolvi Caves File:Ancient ruins and pillars.jpg, Kolvi Caves File:Kolvi Caves 2.jpg, Kolvi Caves Buddh idol.jpg, Buddha statue Ancient pillar.jpg, Rock-hewn

arch Ancient pillars.jpg, Pillars

References

External links

Protected monuments by archaeological survey of India in Rajasthan
{{Indian Buddhist Caves Buddhist monasteries in India Buddhist temples in India Colossal Buddha statues in India Buddhist caves in India Rock-cut architecture of India Former populated places in India Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Caves containing pictograms in India Tourist attractions in Jhalawar district Caves of Rajasthan Buddhism in Rajasthan Archaeological sites in Rajasthan

History

Architecture

Further reading

See also

References

External links