Bandhavgarh Ancient Caves

About the Bandhavgarh caves

The caves are cut into the sandstone hillocks of the Bandhavgarh Hills, in the fort rock and in the hills around it. There are about 39 of them, spread over a stretch of roughly 5 km, and the oldest has been dated to the 1st century. Several carry inscriptions in Brahmi script. A few have figures worked in relief on the rock: tigers, pigs, elephants and horsemen.

What the caves were for is still unsettled. They are plain, close to rough, with none of the worked statues and detailed carving found in cave groups of the Buddhist period, which leaves little to date them by apart from the inscriptions. One reading is that monks used them for spiritual practice and that the army took them over later for strategic reasons. Nothing inside settles it, and the purpose of the caves remains a mystery. Today they are occupied by the wildlife of the park instead: tigers use them for shelter, and bats and other fauna live in them.

Caves to look for

Badi Gufa

The largest of the group, and the name means no more than biggest cave. A broad entrance opens into nine rooms, with several pillars inside, and the cave has been dated to the 10th century. It is a worked-out interior rather than a single shelter, yet it is as bare as the rest, with no statuary at all.

The Brahmi inscription caves

Several caves carry inscriptions in Brahmi script. These are the firmest evidence the group offers about who cut the caves and when, and almost everything known about their age rests on them. The inscriptions are small and easy to walk past if you are not told where to look.

The embossed figure caves

A handful of caves have animals and riders embossed on the rock: tigers, pigs, elephants and horsemen. The relief is shallow and worn. It is the only figurative work anywhere in the group, which makes the plainness of the other caves harder to explain rather than easier.

Planning your visit

The caves are spread over the fort hill and the hillocks around it, all of it inside Bandhavgarh National Park, so you see them on a permitted safari route with a guide rather than on an independent walk. Nobody sees all 39 in one visit. Which caves can be approached depends on the route allowed that day and on what the forest department has open.

• Go with an authorised guide on a permitted safari route, as the caves are not a self-guided site.
• Ask the guide in advance which caves are on the route, since the group is spread across about 5 km.
• Do not enter or climb into a cave mouth. Tigers and bats use them and the interiors are unlit.
• Carry a torch for inscriptions and relief work only if your guide approves its use.

Best time to visit

Come during the open season of the park, and ideally in the drier, cooler months, when rock faces are easier to approach and low morning light picks out shallow inscriptions and embossed figures better than midday glare. The park is closed for part of the year, so check current opening before booking.