GWALIOR FORT CAVES

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

One or several man-made rock temples, which have been used by Jaina religion workes for pious purposes, were cut from the sandstones exposed on the Gopagiri (Gopadri, Gopachala) or Gwalior Rock, the hill crowned by the Gwalior Fortress and rising above the town of Gwalior (note 1). ETYMOLOGY: The state takes its name from the old town of Gwalior, which, though never the actual capital, has always been an important place from the strength of its fort. The name is a corruption of Gopadri or Gopagiri, the shepard's hill (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 12: 417). GEOLOGY: Several bands of basic volcanic rocks are well exposed in the hill upon which the fort of Gwalior stands, where they are capped by an outlier of Upper Vindhyan [Precambrian: Proterozoic] Kaimur sandstone (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 12: 417). CAVES 1882: Gwalior Fortress is the fortified summit of a sandstone hill (1010 ft [308 m]), 2 m. [3.2 km] in length, with area of 2000 acres [8 sq.km] … The fort contains Jain tmples, caves with colossal figures, and the Hindoo palace of Man Singh; these are all that is left of buildings which excited Baber's admiration (SMITH, G 1882: 314). CAVES 1794: … stands on a rock about two coss [4 km] in length, and in many places above four hundred feet [120 m] high, in some three hundred, but in no situation less than one hundred and fifty feet in height. The table is entirely surrounded by a rampart of stone, rising immediately from the edge of the rock, which in most parts, is rendered perpendicular. Within the rampart are many fine buildings, large tanks, innumerable wells [compare –>Gwalior Fort Natural Cavities], and cultivated land. The only access to the fort, is by a flight of steps, defended by the rock on the one side, and a large stone wall on the other, flanked with bastions; and on the summit, is a passage through seven gate-ways. The craggy rock frightfully lofty, into which are hewn many caves [–>Chaturbhuj Cave; –>Man Sing's Palace], at whose etrances are gigantic figures of men and animals; the rampart seeming almost a continuation of this awful precipice; and the rising edifices, whose solemn domes, battlements, and balconies, are suspended, as it were, over the dreadful steep, forming all together, the most sublime view I ever beheld, strike the imagination with a kind of horrible astonishment far beyond simple admiration (MAHOMET, Dean 1794 letter 30). POTENTIAL EMPTYNESS: Compare –>Chaturbhuj Cave, the –>Gwalior Fort -Natural Cavities-, the Gwalior Temple Cave, and Man Singh Palace Undergrounds -- all on the Gopagiri (Gopadri, Gopachala) or Gwalior Rock, the hill crowned by the Gwalior Fortress.trances are gigantic figures of men and animals; the rampart seeming almost a continuation of this awful precipice; and the rising edifices, whose solemn domes, battlements, and balconies, are suspended, as it were, over the dreadful steep, forming all together, the most sublime view I ever beheld, strike the imagination with a kind of horrible astonishment far beyond simple admiration (MAHOMET, Dean 1794 letter 30). POTENTIAL EMPTYNESS: Compare –>Chaturbhuj Cave, the –>Gwalior Fort -Natural Cavities-, the Gwalior Temple Cave, and Man Singh Palace Undergrounds -- all on the Gopagiri (Gopadri, Gopachala) or Gwalior Rock, the hill crowned by the Gwalior Fortress.