Nagarjuni

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Nagarjuni caves near Barabar caves in Jahanabad District Map

Nagarjuni Caves (नागार्जुनी गुहा) are rock-cut caves in, Jahanabad District of Bihar, India. These caves were built few decades later than the Barabar caves, and consecrated by Dasaratha Maurya, Ashoka's grandson and successor, each for the Ajivikas sect. They are 1.6 kms east of the Barabar Caves.

Variants

• Nagarjuni Guha (नागार्जुनी गुहा), जिला गया, बिहार, (AS, p.490)
• Nagarjuni hill
• Gopika (गोपिका) (AS, p.301)
• Gopika cave/Gopika Cave (गोपिका गुहा) (AS, p.301)
• Gopi
• Gopi-ka-Kubha

History

The caves of Nagarjuni hill near Barabar Caves were built few decades later than the Barabar caves, and consecrated by Dasaratha Maurya, Ashoka's grandson and successor, each for the Ajivikas sect. They are 1.6 kilometers east of the Barabar Caves. The three caves are:

• Gopi (Gopi-ka-Kubha), on the southside of the hill, excavated by the king Dasharatha grandson of Ashoka, according to an inscription.

• Vadithi-ka-Kubha cave, on the northside of the hill, located in a crevice, and devoted to Ajivika followers by Dasharatha.

• Vapiya-ka-Kubha cave, on the northside of the hill, also devoted to Ajivika followers by Dasharatha.

Gopika cave

Gopika cave: Also called Gopi or Gopi-ka-Kubha or simply Nagarjuni, Gopika cave is the largest of all the caves of the Barabar complex (25.009116°N 85.078427°E). It consists of a single large oblong room of 13.95x5.84m. The two ends of the room have the particularity of being circular, contrary to the other caves. The cave lies on the south bank of the hill, dug by King Dasharatha Maurya ,grandson of Emperor Ashoka, according to the inscription that was engraved above the front door:

The cave of Gopika, a refuge that will last as long as the sun and the moon, was dug by Devanampiya (beloved of the gods) Dasaratha during his elevation to the throne, to make a hermitage for the most pious Ajivikas.... — Inscription of Dasaratha Maurya on the cave of Gopika. About 230 BCE.

The twin hills of Barabar and Nagarjuni

These caves are situated in the twin hills of Barabar and Nagarjuni, dating back to the 3rd century BC, Maurya period, of Ashoka (r. 273 BC to 232 BC.) and his son, Dasharatha Maurya, though Buddhists themselves , who allowed various Jain sects, to flourish under his policy of religious tolerance, these caves were used by ascetics from the Ājīvika sect , founded by Makkhali Gosala, a contemporary of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, and of Mahavira, the last and 24th Tirthankara of Jainism . Also found at the site were several rock-cut Buddhist and Hindu sculptures .

The area was also the setting for the opening of E.M. Forster's book, A Passage to India, while the caves themselves are the site of a crucial, though ambiguous, scene at the book's symbolic core. The author visited the site, and later used it, as the Marabar caves in his book

Nagarjuni Hill Cave Inscription of Anantavarman (I)

• Ôm ! There was a glorious king, the illustrious Yajñavarman,-who, as if he were Anu, instructed all rulers of the earth in the duty of those who belong to the warrior caste;-whose gait was like the play of a rutting elephant;-(and) through whose sacrifices (the goddess) Paulômî, always emaciated by separation from (the god Indra) who has a thousand eyes, invoked (by this king so constantly as to be perpetually absent from her), has had the beauty of (her) cheeks for a long time sullied by the falling of tears.

• (Line 3.)-He, the son of the illustrious king Shârdûla, who has the name of Anantavarman; who is reputed in the world to be benevolent to others, (and) to be possessed of fortune and manliness, (and) to be full of virtues that are as spotless as the rays of the moon,-by him was caused to be made this wondrous image, placed in (this) cave, of (the god) Bhûtapati and (the goddess) Dêvî, which is possessed of excellencies (of workmanship) some of them (previously) beheld (in other images) but others not so; (and) which confers boons upon the maker (of it). May it protect the world!

• (L. 5.)-Having the surface of the full-moon that is (his) face made grey through being scattered over with spots that are (his) frowns displayed at the ends of the bent arc, glistening with (its) string pulled tight and fitted with an arrow, of the bow drawn up to the extremities of (his) shoulders, Anantavarman, whose body is like (that of) (the god) Smara,-having stood, gazed upon for a very long time by the does, indifferent to life, whose moist and tender eyes omit to blink (through the intentness with which they regard him);-(lives only) for (the purpose of dealing out) death. The far-reaching (and) powerful arrow, scattering the elephants and driving horses wild with fear, of him who has the name of Ananta, impelled with speed (and) skilfully discharged from the machine of (his) bow, fitted with a well-stretched string, that is drawn very tight (and) rivals the screams of an osprey (with the noise of its twanging),-teaches to the wives of (his) enemies the condition of the sorrows (of widowhood).

• From: Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 225-226.

Nagarjuni Hill Cave Inscription of Anantavarman (II)

Ôm! May the foot of (the goddess) Dêvî, fringed with the rays of (its) pure nails, point out the way to fortune, endowing with a (suitable) reward your state of supplication which is such as befits the expression of firm devotion;-(that foot) which, surpassing in radiance all the beauty of a full-blown waterlily, was disdainfully placed, with its tinkling anklet, on the head of the demon Mahishâsura !

• (Line 3.)-There was a king, the illustrious Yajñavarman, possessed of greatness by celebrating copious sacrifices; renowned; possessed of, fame as pure as the spotless moon; the abode of (all) the dignity of one of the warrior caste;-who, though he was the foremost of all kings in respect of wisdom, (high) descent, liberality, and prowess, yet, through modesty, was (like) an ocean which adheres to the natural state (of tranquillity), (and) the calmness of which is never to be disturbed.

• (L. 5.)-His son (was) the king Shârdûlavarman, who stretched out over the faces of the points of the compass, (as) an emblem of sovereignty, the renown that he had acquired in the occupation of war resembling (in its extensiveness) the great swollen ocean; who conquered (the stains of) this present age with (his) fame; who was illustrious; (and) who acquired, as it were, the glory of the kalpa-tree, by satisfying with rewards the wishes of (his) relatives and friends.

• (L. 7.)-Of him, who was always possessed of infinite fame and renown, the son (is) he, pure of soul, (and) possessed of intellect animated with innate piety, who is known by the appellation of Varman commencing with Ananta;-by whom, desiring a shrine of religious merit that should endure as long as the sun, the earth, the moon, and the stars, this (image of) (the goddess) Kâtyâyanî has been placed in (this) wonderful cave of the Vindhya mountains.

• (L. 9.)-He has given to (the goddess) Bhavânî, to be enjoyed up to the time of the destruction of all things, the charming village of . . . . . . . . , possessed of a great wealth of enjoyment,-the sin, impurity, mud, and blemishes of which are washed away by the pure waters of a great river;-which is filled with perfume by the breezes that agitate the priyamgu and vakula-trees in (its) groves;-(and) from which the radiance of the sun is screened off by (this) lofty mountain.

• From: Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 227-228.

नागार्जुनी गुहा

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...नागार्जुनी गुहा (AS, p.490) गया ज़िला, बिहार में स्थित है। यह गुफ़ा बौद्ध धर्म की महायान शाखा के प्रसिद्ध आचार्य नागार्जुन के नाम पर प्रसिद्ध है। कहा जाता है कि वे यहाँ पर कुछ समय पर्यन्त रहे थे। आचार्य नागार्जुन का समय द्वितीय शती ई. में माना जाता है। नागार्जुनी गुफ़ा में मौखरि वंश के नरेश अनंतवर्मन् का एक तिथिहीन लेख भी है, जिसका उद्देश्य अनंतवर्मन द्वारा इस गुहा मंदिर में भूतपति शिव तथा देवी पार्वती की अर्धनारीश्वर मूर्ति की प्रतिष्ठापना का उल्लेख है। अनंतवर्मन ही का एक अन्य अभिलेख भी इस गुहा में है, जिसमें उसके द्वारा कात्यायनी देवी की एक प्रतिमा के प्रतिष्ठापन तथा उसके लिए एक ग्राम के दान का उल्लेख है। अभिलेख 7वीं शती ई. के हैं।

गोपिका गुहा

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...गोपिका गुहा (AS, p.301) नागार्जुनी पर्वत की गुफाओं में सबसे बड़ी गुफा का नाम है.