The Buddhist caves in India form an important part of Indian rock-cut architecture, and are among the most prolific examples of rock-cut architecture around the world. There are more than 1,500 known rock cut structures in India, out of which about 1000 were made by Buddhists (mainly between 200 BCE and 600 CE), 300 by Hindus (from 600 CE to 1200 CE), and 200 by Jains (from 800 CE to 1200 CE). Many of these structures contain works of art of global importance, and many later caves from the Mahayana period are adorned with exquisite stone carvings. These ancient and medieval structures represent significant achievements of structural engineering and craftsmanship.
In India, caves have been regarded as places of sanctity. Caves that were enlarged or entirely man-made were felt to hold the same sanctity as natural caves. In fact, the sanctuary in all Indian religious structures, even free-standing ones, retains the same cave-like feeling of sacredness, being small and dark without natural light.
The oldest rock-cut architecture in India is found in the Barabar caves, Bihar built around the 3rd century BCE. Of these caves, mostly build by Emperor Ashoka and his grandson Dasaratha for the ascetic sect of the Ajivikas, two caves are thought to have been dedicated to the Buddhist: Karan Chaupar cave, and possibly the Lomas Rishi cave. Most other Buddhist caves are then found in the western Deccan, consisting in shrines and monasteries, dating between 100 BCE and 170 CE. Originally, they were probably accompanied by wooden structures, which would have deteriorated over time. Historically, rock-cut temples have retained a wood-like theme in adornment; skilled craftsmen learned to mimic timber texture, grain, and structure. The earliest cave temples include the Bhaja Caves, the Karla Caves, the Bedse Caves, the Kanheri Caves, and some of the Ajanta Caves. Relics found in these caves suggest a connection between the religious and the commercial, as Buddhist missionaries often accompanied traders on the busy international trading routes through India. Some of the more sumptuous cave temples, commissioned by wealthy traders, included pillars, arches, and elaborate facades during the time maritime trade boomed between the Roman Empire and south-east Asia.
Although free standing structural temples were also being built, such as the Bairat Temple (3rd century BCE) and the various free-standing apsidal temples in Sanchi, Taxila or Ter, rock-cut cave temples continued to be built in parallel. Later rock-cut cave architecture became more sophisticated as in the Ajanta Caves, belonging to a second, and last, wave of Buddhist cave building. The last Buddhist caves were built around the 6th century CE.
Architecture
Architectural elements are borrowed from: Indian rock-cut architecture Buddhist temple architecture Buddhist architecture
Early natural caves
The earliest caves employed by humans were natural caves used by local inhabitants for a variety of purposes, such as shrines and shelters. Evidence suggests that the caves were first occupied and slightly altered during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods, up to about 6000 BC, though the changes do not really amount to architecture. Early examples included overhanging rock, decorated with rock-cut designs. The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, a World Heritage Site, are located on the edge of the Deccan Plateau, where dramatic erosion has left massive sandstone outcrops. The area's many caves and grottos have yielded primitive tools and decorative rock paintings.
During the time of the Buddha (c. 563/480 or c. 483/400 BCE), Buddhist monks were also in the habit of using natural caves, such as the Saptaparni Cave, southwest from Rajgir, Bihar. Many believe it to be the site in which Buddha spent some time before his death,Digha Nikaya 16, Maha-Parinibbana Sutta, Last Days of the Buddha, Buddhist Publication Society and where the first Buddhist council was held after the Buddha died (paranirvana). The Buddha himself had also used the Indrasala Cave for meditation, starting a tradition of using caves, natural or man-made, as religious retreats, that would last for over a millennium.Buddhist Architecture, Lee Huu Phuoc, Grafikol 2009, p.97-99
Saru Maru transition
Natural caves continued to be used for a long time, and over a rather wide area, as shown by the Saru Maru caves (also known as Pangoraria or Budhani caves) in Madhya Pradesh. More than 45 rock shelters were found in the Pangaroria area, which is a Buddhist site with multiple stupas and dwellings. Ashoka came here as a young prince when he was governor of the northwest, based in Vidisha, as shown by a commemorative inscription in one of the two natural caves. He later also had his Minor Rock Edict in the second cave at Saru Maru.Gupta, The Origins of Indian Art, p.202Archaeological Survey of India
According to Gupta, the Saru Maru caves also display a certain level of man-made improvements, such as the creation of rock-cut steps and benches for monks. This possibly is a preliminary step before the advent, under Ashoka, of full-fledged artificial caves, such as those of Barabar. The Saru-Maru caves may present an evolutionary step between fully natural Buddhist caves of east India, and the highly sophisticated fully artificial, rock-cut, caves that appeared at Barabar circa 250 BCE.Gupta, The Origins of Indian Art, p.196
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the next stage of artificial caves building at Barabar was such a remarkable feat of engineering, with the use of large-scale polishing techniques without precedents in the history of India, that they were probably due to foreign influence, and derived from the stone-working techniques of the Achaemenids, having spread to India after the destruction of the empire by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE and the displacement of Persian and Perso-Greek artists and technicians.Maharashtra, Marg Publications, 1985, Pdf "The surface of the walls are polished to a mirror-like finish, an exclusive feature of Mauryan architecture and sculpture, first derived through the media of Achaemenid art after the disintegration of the Persian Empire in AD 330 and the dispersal of skilled Persian and Perso-Greek artisans "
Artificial caves of Eastern India (3rd-2nd centuries BCE)
In the 3rd century BCE Indian rock-cut architecture began to develop, starting with the already highly sophisticated and state-sponsored Barabar caves in Bihar, personally dedicated by Ashoka to the ascetic sect of the Ajivikas circa 250 BCE.Chandra, Pramod (2008), South Asian arts, Encyclopædia Britannica. The precise identity of the Ajivikas is not well known, and it is even unclear if they were a divergent sect of the Buddhists or the Jains. These artificial caves exhibit an amazing level of technical proficiency, the extremely hard granite rock being cut in geometrical fashion and polished to a mirror-like finish.
There is another cave with the structure and polishing qualities of the Barabar caves, but without any inscription. This is the Sitamarhi Cave, 20 km from Rajgir, 10 km south-west of Hisua, also dated of the Maurya empire. It is smaller than the Barabar caves, measuring only 4.91x3.43m, with a ceiling height of 2.01m. The entrance is also trapezoidal, as for the Barabar caves.Gupta, The roots of Indian Art, p.194-
The caves were carved out of granite, an extremely hard rock, then finished with a very nice polishing of the inner surface, giving a mirror effect of a great regularity, as well as an echo effect.Ashoka in Ancient India by Nayanjot Lahiri This large-scale polish is reminiscent of polishing on smaller surfaces of the Maurya statuary, particularly visible on the pillars and capitals of the Ashoka pillars.
Commenting of Mauryan sculpture, John Marshall once wrote about the "extraordinary precision and accuracy which characterizes all Mauryan works, and which has never, we venture to say, been surpassed even by the finest workmanship on Athenian buildings".The Early History of India by Vincent A. SmithAnnual report 1906-07 p.89
This know-how seems to have disappeared again after the Maurya period, none of the later caves such as the Ajanta caves having this characteristic of polished surfaces.Indian History The very act of digging artificial caves in the rock, of which the Barabar caves represent the oldest case in India, was probably inspired by the caves dug in the rock of the Achaemenids, as is the case in Naqsh-e Rostam."But it is also likely that the predilection towards a cave and rock-cut tradition was stimulated by an Achaemenid model, such as the royal tombs at Naksh-i-Rustam. Thus, like other aspects of Maurya culture, the cave excavations may have been the result of both indigenous and foreign elements." in "The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist, Hindu, Susan L. Huntington Jain, Weatherhill, 1985,
Imperial sponsorship
These remarkable caves were conceived under the Imperial sponsorship of Ashoka and his grandson Dasaratha Maurya. The cost involved in the rock-cutting and the refined polishing work was probably enormous, and was never replicated again in subsequent caves. Ashoka dedicated the caves of Sudama and Visvakarma to the Ajivikas in the 12th year of his reign, when his religious evolution towards Buddhism was not yet fully completed. Later, Ashoka built the caves of Lomas Rishi (without dated inscription, but posterior to Sudama on architectural grounds) and Karna Chopar (19th year of his reign), at a time when he had become a firm advocate of Buddhism, as known from the Edicts of Ashoka. Therefore, he may naturally have offered the last two caves of Lomas Rishi and Karna Chopar to the Buddhists, although the former has no inscription and the latter has an inscription which only indirectly suggests that. Ashoka's inscription from Karna Chopar Cave does not mention the Ajivikas, and seems rather to refer to the Buddhist practice of retirement () during the rainy season. In addition, the inverted swastika with upward arrow at the end of the inscription would be more of a Buddhist character. It is therefore probable that this cave was planned for Buddhist monks.Buddhist Architecture par Huu Phuoc Le p.102
The affiliation of the last two caves to Buddhism would be coherent with the fact that the architecture of the gate of Lomas Rishi became a reference for the development of the Chaitya arch in Buddhist cave architecture for the following centuries, whereas the Hindus or the Jains caves essentially did not follow this architectural example. This would also mean that the decorated gate of Lomas Rishi was a Buddhist invention, which was emulated in Buddhist architecture in the following centuries.
Artificial caves of Western India
After the Barabar caves, the earliest known rock-cut Buddhist monasteries date to the 1st century BCE in the Western Ghats in western India. Huge efforts were made at building religious caves in Western India until the 6th century CE. However, the polishing of cave walls was abandoned, never to be revived. Such grandiose caves as Karla Caves (1st century CE) or the Ajanta Caves (5th century CE) do not have any polishing either. This may be due to the fact that Mauryan caves where dedicated and sponsored by the Mauryan Imperial government, allowing for huge resources and efforts to be spent, whereas later caves were essentially the result of donations by commoners, who could not afford as high a level of spending.Le Huu Phuoc, Buddhist architecture, p.99
First wave of construction (2nd century BCE- 2nd century CE)