Historical Geography of Ancient India c10.348

c10.348

Udayagiri.—It is noted for the rock cut temples excavated in an isolated sandstone hill. The Udayagiri cave inscription of Candragupta II mentions this well-known hill with a small village of the same name on the eastern side, about two miles to the north-west of Bhilsā, the chief town of the Bhilsā tahsil or sub-division of the Isāgaḍh district in the dominions of Scindhia in Central India (C.I.I., Vol. III). According to some, this hill stands 4½ miles north-west of the Bhilsa railway station. This ancient site in Bhilsā is situated between the Betwā and the Besh rivers, four miles from Bhilsā. It contains caves which are twenty in number. The region in which this hill is situated, was formerly known as Daśārṇa or Dasaṇṇa of the early Buddhist canon. Dasaṇṇa is generally identified with the region round modern Bhilsā. The hill of Udayagiri is about 1½ miles in length, its general direction being from south-west to north-east. Vedisagiri where Mahendra, son of Aśoka, stayed with his mother in a monastery before his departure for Ceylon, might probably be the same as this Udayagiri hill. The Cave No. 5 is the most important of the Udayagiri caves from the sculptural point of view. It contains the scene of Varāha inscription. The Cave No. 6 contains the sculptural representations of the two Dvārapālas, Viṣṇu, Mahiṣamardinī, and Gaṇeśa. The Udayagiri caves contain twelve inscriptions of which the four are the most important. The inscription in the Cave No. 6 discloses that the Sanakānikas occupied this region (vide D. R. Patil, ‘The Monuments of the Udayagiri hills’, published in the *Vikrama Volume*, ed. by Dr. R. K. Mookerji, 1948, pp. 377ff.; Luard, *Gwalior State Gazetteer*, I, p. 296).