BARABAR HILL GROUP I N THE BUDDHIST PLACE NAGARJUNi HILL
Satyendra Kumar Pathak
Nagarjun hills derive their name from the tradition that Nagarjun the famous Buddhist teacher lived in one of these caves and the name Barabar is apparently a corruption barawara the great enclosure a designation applied to the valley in which the cave are situated. Nagarjun hill situated about 16 miles to the south of the Jehanabad district headquarter jehanabad state Bihar ( India ) and connected by a motarable road there are a group of Barabar hills with distinct peaks.About half mile to the east of the patalganga siddheshwar nath peak are the Nagarjun hills consisting of two narrow ridges of granite running nearly parallel about half a mile distant from each other. The southern ridge contains three mor Gopi cave, vadyantik cave and yogendra cave s of which two are situated in a small spur on the northern side while the third and largest cave known as the Gopi cave is excavated in the southern side of the ridge of a height of 50 feet above the plain. It is approached by flight of rude stone steps but the entrance is concealed by a tree and partly by the wall of an Udyan built by some former mohammad an occupants. On the aut side immediately over the doorway a small Sunken tablet contains an inscription stating that the Gopi ' s cave was besttoword by Magadh raja Dasharath immediately after his occasion on the venerable Ajivikas to be a dwelling place for them as long as the sun and the moon endure.
:The other two caves which are situated in low rocky ridge on the northern side of the Nagarjun hill have inscriptions recording their dedication in the same terms . To the south there are two raised terraces the upper of which is believed by General cunningham to have been the site of a Buddhist Vihar or monastery .There are several squared stones and granite pillers near the top which in the opinion of the same authority where added by the Mohammadan who accupied the caves in later years . The plateform is covered with their tombs and all around there are heaps of bricks and fragments of carved stones which show that several building must once have existed here . The westward cave is situated in a graphic and natural cleft of the rock and in entered by narrow passage only 2 feet10 inches in width. In an inscription on the right hand jamb of the doorway this cave is called Vedathika cave which General Cunningham suggestsmany mean the Vedathika cave of the secluded medications . This meaning is appropriate to the position of the Vedathika cave for it is entirely separated from the cave to the est is encompassed by the bluff rocks of the gap in which it is situated and is effectually screened from view. the cave next to it has a small porch and ante chennee from which a narrow doorway leads to the principal room .The roof is vaulted and all the walls are highly polished. From an inscription on the left hand side of the porch we learn that the cave was called Vapika a tern which probably refers to the well Vapi cave in front of it . From the account given above it will be seen that the two groups of cave are separated by date as wel as position .The Barabar caves having been excavated in the reign of Magadh empire Ashok while those of Nagarjun where excavated in the first year of the reign of his grandson Dasharath I.e. about the year 231 B.C. They where all dedicated to the Ajivika noted for ascetic practice of the most rigorous kind .From inscriptions of later date we learn that the caves where for ages acciones by Brahmani al ascetics .About the third century A.D.the king haardik German and Anant verman placed Brahmani al images in three of the caves and in the six century the jan teacher achary yogendra left a record of his adoration of the siddheshwar nath lingam in the Vapika cave .The Barabar caves are known locally as the santa ghar , satagharwa and it has been suggested that the name is a corruption of saptagharbha and seven caves .It may also mean sant ghar the abode of the saints . The Barabar caves are however only four in number karn cave ,sudama cave ,lomash rishi cave and vvishvajhopadi caves and the term would there for have to include the three Nagarjun hill Gopi cave , vapi cave , yogendra caves . The nagarjun hills derive their name from the tradition that Nagarjun the famous Buddhist teacher lived in ane of these caves and the name Barabar is apparently a corruption of Bara avara the great enclosure a designation applied to the valley in which the caves are situated. This naturally a strong defensive position as it possesses plenty of water and is only accessible at two points on the north east and south east . Both this points where closed by walls , and as there are also traces of walls on the surrounding hills . It seems certain that the place was once used as a stronghold. The term may however have been applied to the larger valley enclosed on the West by the Barabar hills on the east by the faltu river where the numerous heaps of brick and stone scattered over the plain seem to mark the site of a large Ram Gaya town . Buchanan Himilton colls this plain RamGaya and states that the people of the neighborhood claimed that it was once a centre of pilgrimage which fel into decline because the Gayawals set up a new Pilgrim city Gaya . The Barabar hills group place is connected from patna Gaya or Gaya Patna railway line Bela ( Gaya ) and makhadumpur ( jehanabad ) railway station , Barabar Holt and Banavae Holt by Patna Gaya roads which run to the bottom of Barabar hills. See Report of the Archaeological survey of India Ancient monuments in Bengal 1895 .
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