Pola Dungar
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Pola Dungar (पोलाडूंगर) is an archaeological site in Garoth tahsil of Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh, India. It has preserved the memories of the Buddhist religion in Dashpur region in its caves.
Variants
- Pola Dungar/Pola Dunger (पोलाडूंगर)
- Pola Dongar (पोलाडोंगर)
- Poladongara पोलाडोंगर, म.प्र., (AS, p.579)
Location
Pola Dungar is 20 km from Garoth on Garoth-Boliya road. This is 128 km from Mandsour. There is a small hill (dungar) which has been made hollow (pola) by the architects in their effort to construct caves. That is how it derives its name Pola Dungar meaning hollow hill.[1]
History
These caves were made of red stone during 9th-10th century A.D. It seems they belonged to the Hinayana sect as they are totally devoid of the images of the Buddha. Initially there were about 100 small & big caves over here, however, due to the bolt of time and nature only few of these have survived. Most of these caves were used as viharas. Only few caves are in form of a chaitya. The main entrance is called Surajpol. Inside the chaitya there is a Stupa having a square base of 3 meter, circumference 2.40 meter and height is 4.20 meter. After Maharashtra only this region has the largest number of Buddhist caves. [2]
To those interested in this subject other sites are also worth seeing such as – Dharmrajeshwar, Dhanakhedi, Ganeshmagra, Khejaria-Bhoop, Ghasoi, Kholvi, Vinayaga, Kanwla etc.[3]
पोलाडोंगर
विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[4] ने लेख किया है .....पोलाडोंगर (AS, p.579) मध्य प्रदेश का एक ऐतिहासिक स्थान है। इस स्थान से सातवीं से नवीं शती ई. की इमारतों के अनेक अवशेष मिले हैं। इन अवशेषों के आधार पर इस स्थान की प्राचीनता सिद्ध होती है।