Gopachal Hill
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Gopachal rock-cut Jain monuments, also called ''Gopachal Parvat'' Jaina monuments, are a group of Jain carvings dated to between 7th and 15th century. They are located around the walls of the
Gwalior Fort The Gwalior Fort commonly known as the ''Gwāliiyar Qila'', is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus ind ...
,
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
. They depict Tirthankaras in seated Padmasana posture as well as standing
Kayotsarga Kayotsarga ( , pka, काउस्सग्ग ) is a yogic posture which is an important part of the Jain meditation. It literally means "dismissing the body". A tirthankara is represented either seated in yoga posture or standing in the kayo ...
posture, in the typical naked form of Jain iconography. The number of Jain rock shrines at Gwalior, with numerous monumental statues, is unmatched anywhere else. James Burgess writes: "In the 15th century, during the reign of the Tomara Rajas, the Jains seem to have been seized with an uncontrollable impulse to convert the cliff that sustains the fort into a great shrine in honour of their religion, and in a few years excavated the most extensive series of Jaina caves known to exist anywhere." The Gopachal Jain collosi cave temple is one of the
Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...
's ''Adarsh Smarak Monument'' along with other monuments in the Gwalior Fort.


Location

The Gopachal rock-cut Jain monuments are located on the rock cliffs of the hill topped by the
Gwalior Fort The Gwalior Fort commonly known as the ''Gwāliiyar Qila'', is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus ind ...
, Madhya Pradesh. Gopachal is the old designation of the
Gwalior Fort The Gwalior Fort commonly known as the ''Gwāliiyar Qila'', is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus ind ...
. There are five clusters of monuments that surround the hill, as can be seen in the 1901 map. * South-East Group: Popularly referred to as Ek Patthar Ki Bawadi group, the cluster is now termed the "Gopachal Atishya Kshetra" by the local Jain community. The group includes 26 caves in a row spanning about half a mile. There are 13 inscriptions from 1468-1473 AD. The entrance to the site is close to the Dindayal City Mall. * South-West Group: Now termed Trishalagiri. The group is the first one encountered when driving to the Urvai Gate, just outside the fortifications. There are the oldest Jain monuments in Gwalior from the post-Gupta period. Archaeologist L.B. Singh dates them to 6th to 8th cent AD. * Urvahi group: In both sides of the road, just before entering the hilltop fort gate. These are the most visited since they are visible from the road itself. There are six inscriptions from 1440–1453 AD. * North-West group: Now termed Naminath Giri group after Lord Naminath. They are hard to access. There is an inscription of 1470 AD. The group appears to have escaped the destruction by Babur, and thus the monumental image of Lord Naminath is in its pristine form. * North-East group: Now termed Naimgir group after Lord Neminath.
Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...
noted a Jain temple converted into a mosque just north of the Sas-Bahu temples in the fort containing a Jain inscription of AD 1108. Also within the fort there is an abandoned Jain temple which is now within the
Scindia School The Scindia School is an Indian boarding school for boys, established in year 1897, and situated in the historic Gwalior Fort, in the city of Gwalior. It was originally started exclusively for royals and nobles of Indian princely states, part ...
playground and thus no longer accessible. Several large Jain sculptures are placed within the
Teli ka Mandir Teli ka Mandir, also known as Telika Temple, is a Hindu temple located within the Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh, India. Dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Matrikas, it has been variously dated between the early 8th and early 9th century CE. It is an ...
compound. The Gwalior city and the fort is connected to other Indian cities by major highways NH 44 and 46 (Asian Highway 43 and 47), a railway station and airport (
IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...
: GWL). It is located near other historic Hindu and Jain temples from the medieval era.


History

The Gopachal rock-cut monuments are a part of nearly 100 Jain monuments found in and around the Gwalior city, but these are dated earlier than the
Siddhachal Caves Siddhachal Caves are Jain cave monuments and statues carved into the rock face inside the Urvashi valley of the Gwalior Fort in northern Madhya Pradesh, India. There are the most visited among the five groups of Jain rock carvings on the Gwalior F ...
located about north of these monuments. Both monuments were defaced and desecrated around 1527 when the Emperor Babur ordered their destruction., Quote: "In 1527, the Urvahi Jinas were mutilated by the Mughal emperor Babar, a fact he records in his memoirs".Centuries later, the Jain community restored many of the statues by adding back stucco heads on the top of the damaged idols. The prolific Apabhramsha author Raidhu was responsible for consecrating many of the Jain rock carved images as attested by multiple inscriptions. These include the two colossal images of Shri Adinatha (57 feet) and Shri Chandraprabha. Kurbuddin Aibak captured the fort from Parihars in 1196 AD and held it until his death in 1210. Altmash captured the fort in 1232 and built the fortifications at the Urvahi gate. The Tomars acquired control in 1394 and held it until 1517. Mughal Emperor
Babar Babar ( ur, ), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Pashto, and Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ...
conquered Gwalior in AD 1527. Babar ordered the destruction of the Jain statues, as he mentions in his memoirs. The heads of the statues at Urvahi gate and the Ek Patthat ki Bawadi were damaged. The Urvahi gate sculptures were repaired at some later time by the local Jains. The South-West Group and North West group sculptures survived because they were in inconspicuous and hard to reach places. and The Mughals kept control until
Muhammad Shah Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah (born Roshan Akhtar; 7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748) was the 13th Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the ...
.
Scindia The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal servan ...
s, the Maratha clan, took control in 1731. Shortly before that, Jain temples were constructed again in Gwalior city in 1704 AD, including the Jain Golden Temple, Gwalior.


Description

The Gopachal rock-cut monuments depict the Tirthankaras in seated or standing meditating positions. They are not as colossal as some of those found in the Siddhachal Caves, but they are big. The Gopachal monuments include standing and seated Shri
Rishabhanatha Rishabhanatha, also ( sa, ऋषभदेव), Rishabhadeva, or Ikshvaku is the first (Supreme preacher) of Jainism and establisher of Ikshvaku dynasty. He was the first of twenty-four teachers in the present half-cycle of time in Jain c ...
(Adinatha),
Neminatha Neminatha, also known as Nemi and Arishtanemi, is the twenty-second ''tirthankara'' (ford-maker) in Jainism. Along with Mahavira, Parshvanatha and Rishabhanatha, Neminatha is one of the twenty four ''tirthankaras'' who attract the most devo ...
,
Parshvanatha ''Parshvanatha'' (), also known as ''Parshva'' () and ''Parasnath'', was the 23rd of 24 ''Tirthankaras'' (supreme preacher of dharma) of Jainism. He is the only Tirthankara who gained the title of ''Kalīkālkalpataru (Kalpavriksha in this "Kal ...
and Shri
Mahavira Mahavira (Sanskrit: महावीर) also known as Vardhaman, was the 24th ''tirthankara'' (supreme preacher) of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of the 23rd ''tirthankara'' Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6t ...
svami.Gwalior Fort
Archaeological Survey of India, Bhopal Circle, India (2014)
The mulnayak of the complex is a idol of Parshvanatha, the largest idol of Parshvanatha in lotus position. According to Jains, Tirthankara Parshvanath delivered his discourse (
deshna In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a 'ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable passag ...
) on this hill.


Gallery

File:Gopachal - Tirthankar statues.jpg, Jain Tirthankar statues, Ek Pathar ki Bavadi File:Gopachal - Tirthankar statue (2).jpg, Seated in lotus position File:Gopachal - Tirthankar statue (1).jpg, Seated in kayotsarga position File:Damaged and restored Parshvanatha sculpture at Ek Pathar ki Bavadi (Gopachal Parvat), Gwalior Fort India.jpg, Parshvanatha File:Jain Tirthankar statues (15698552263).jpg, Jain Tirthankar statues, Ek Pathar ki Bavadi File:Babur visiting the Urvah valley in Gwalior 1.jpg,
Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...
visiting the Urvah valley in Gwalior, from an illustrated ''
Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...
'', showing the carvings File:8th or 9th century ruined Teli ka Mandir Gwalior fort, Madhya Pradesh 01.jpg, Jain statues in
Teli ka Mandir Teli ka Mandir, also known as Telika Temple, is a Hindu temple located within the Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh, India. Dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Matrikas, it has been variously dated between the early 8th and early 9th century CE. It is an ...
compound,
Lala Deen Dayal Raja Lala Deen Dayal (; 1844–1905; also written as 'Din Dyal' and 'Diyal' in his early years), famously known as Raja Deen Dayal) was an Indian photographer. His career began in the mid-1870s as a commissioned photographer; eventually he set u ...
in 1882


Transport

The nearest airport is Gwalior.


See also

*
Jain art Jain art refers to religious works of art associated with Jainism. Even though Jainism has spread only in some parts of India, it has made a significant contribution to Indian art and architecture. In general Jain art broadly follows the conte ...
*
Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...
*
Siddhachal Caves Siddhachal Caves are Jain cave monuments and statues carved into the rock face inside the Urvashi valley of the Gwalior Fort in northern Madhya Pradesh, India. There are the most visited among the five groups of Jain rock carvings on the Gwalior F ...
Gwalior Fort The Gwalior Fort commonly known as the ''Gwāliiyar Qila'', is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus ind ...
Urwahi Valley/Gate area * Raidhu, the Gopachal Prathishacharya


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * *


External links


The Rock-cut Jain Monuments of Gwalior – Introduction, Kevin Standage, MARCH 25, 2019

Gopachal Ek Patthar Ki Bavadi Streetview
{{Jain Caves in India Hills of Madhya Pradesh Gwalior 7th-century Jain temples Jain temples in Madhya Pradesh Jain rock-cut architecture Tourist attractions in Gwalior Colossal Jain statues in India