File:0010622 Ramgarh hills Puta Sitabhengra and Jogimara Caves Chattisgarh 083.jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file (4,624 × 3,468 pixels, file size: 8.4 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

A view from inside the Jogimara cave

Summary

[edit]
Description
English: This is a 3rd-century to 2nd-century BCE site uphill, along an ancient trail, midst the forested Ramgarh hills (Ramgiri) in north Chhattisgarh.

The site has several monuments spread over many centuries. According to the local legends, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana of Ramayana fame stopped and stayed here for a while. Thus monuments in Ramgarh hills and many others parts of Chhattisgarh are linked to a portion of the Hindu epic Ramayana.

The most ancient part of the Ramgarh hills site consists of two caves – a theatre shaped Sita Bengr cave and a smaller Jogimara cave with ancient frescoes.

These caves are significant for the following reasons:

  • the Jogimara cave is about 3 m x 1.8 m x 1.8 m, entirely excavated. Inside is an inscription in Brahmi script of the early variety (c. 3rd century BCE), helping date this cave. The inscription is a non-religious and non-political note, more like modern-day love graffiti in one possible translation: "Sutunaka by name, a devadasi, the excellent among young men, Devadinna by name, a skilled sculpture, loved her." In alternate translation, instead of "loved her", the interpretation is that they built the resting place and stage together.
  • the Sita Benga is about 14 m x 5 m x 1.8 m cave, partly natural and partly excavated. In front of the Sita Benga cave are terraces of crescent-shaped rock-cut benches that focus towards a stage, with deep aisles as if they were meant to seat an audience. Further, in front are two holes hewn into rock floor of a size to possibly insert poles or some sort of screen with stand. These unusual combination of features has led scholars to propose that this was an ancient performance stage. Further, in this theory, the Jogimara cave may have been a resting or prep area for artists.
  • the Sita Benga cave has a Brahmi inscription that is poetic, and partly says, "Poets venerable by nature kindle the heart,"; this inscription helps date it to 2nd to 1st century BCE.
  • the Jogimara caves have remnants of frescoes which too have been dated to between 3rd and 1st century BCE. They were four to five colors used to make the paintings, of which the red color has survived most distinctly into the modern era. This is one of the oldest known fresco paintings in Asia.
  • The inscription is amongst oldest known in Chhattisgarh, composed by a girl and she romantically praises a boy. She starts with smaller type, then decides to write with larger type and repeats several words in the larger font. She identifies herself as a Devadasi, but scholars believe this is unlikely to have anything to do with "temple dancers" as no trace of any ancient Buddhist, Hindu or Jain temple has been found in Ramgarh hills.
  • These caves are one of the oldest known monuments in Chhattisgarh that has been dated between 3rd and 2nd-century BCE with evidence.
Other nearby sites further along the hiking trail include Hindu temple ruins, a modern era Ram Janaki temple, Hathi gufa and a scenic waterfall.
Date
Source Own work
Author Ms Sarah Welch
Camera location22° 54′ 42.41″ N, 82° 56′ 07.93″ E Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

Licensing

[edit]
I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:
Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current15:12, 28 November 2022Thumbnail for version as of 15:12, 28 November 20224,624 × 3,468 (8.4 MB)Ms Sarah Welch (talk | contribs)Uploaded own work with UploadWizard

File usage on other wikis

The following other wikis use this file:

Metadata