Bhopal: As you walk across ASI’s Interpretation Centre near Udayagiri caves, a world of wonders opens up before you making you travel through the rich and glorious past. ‘Let’s know Udayagiri’- The Interpretation centre, a kind of new-style museum, has been set up as a part of Heritage Week that commenced on November 19.
The center aims to provide information about the icons engraved on the timeless walls of the Udayagiri (the hills of rising sun) caves. The centre uses different means of communication to enhance the understanding of heritage. Giving voice to the silent sculptures and figurines at the rock-cut cave, the centre is playing an important role in helping the people to trace the history of the iconic Udayagiri. Earlier, the tourists visiting the caves had to depend on the guides to know about the statues and the engravings.
However, now at the centre, the visitors can easily go through the billboards containing written information about the Udayagiri caves and its surrounding areas, including Vidisha. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Bhopal circle, would soon digitize the system, said an employee working at the centre.
On entering the centre, one finds a big map sharing information about the locations of the caves and also guides a visitor how to start looking at the statues carved in the caves numbering 20. Besides providing information about the history, the centre throws enough light on the geography, religion and architecture of the Gupta period and gives the genealogy of the Gupta Kings, with all dates in a nutshell.
The most important information that the center provides is related to the inscriptions of the Gupta period (from 300 to 600 AD) and their evolution into modern Devnagari script. A big photograph of the icon of ‘Varaha Avtar’ (cave number 5) describes its significance. The most important figurine etched on the walls of cave number 13 is that of the ‘Seshaavtar’ of Lord Vishnu, last incarnation of the Lord.
The history of the statues in cave numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 19 and 20 and how Jainism spread in the areas around Vidisha are available with the sketches of 24 Tirthankaras. The centre, through pictures, also takes a visitor to the Buddhist monuments at Sanchi, Gyaraspur, Udayaswara Mahadeva temple, Ramgarh, Bija Mandal, Lohangi Hill Capital, Heliodorus Pillar and Bhimgaja.
Appreciating the initiative of ASI, Urmi Ghose, a visitor from Mumbai said, “The centre is very helpful for common visitors like us who know nothing about the history and archaeology. But this centre helped us to understand the history of iconic monuments. It is really very informative.” Arijit, her husband said, “Everything is fine, but I think the centre should be digitized and there should be a signboard at the gate of the centre.”
