File:0112621 Cave 4, Veena Cave, Udayagiri Caves, Vidisha district, Madhya Pradesh 050.jpg

English: The Udaygiri Cave 4 near Vidisha is also called the Veena cave, named after the two Veena players, one each at the doorway lintel corners. Cave 4 is dedicated to Shiva.

The cave entrance is flanked by two dvarapalas (eroded, damaged) and two pillars (damaged). The rock surface in front suggests that this cave had a mandapa in front, but it is now lost. The doorway sakhas are finely decorated with geometric and flower-like artwork. Inside the sanctum is a beautifully carved monolithic Ekamukha Shiva linga – one with almost feminine-face, strands of hair rolling down.

This cave is notable for its miniature Veena artwork, as it links the role of India's ancient musical instrument and traditions to a Shiva temple by the 5th-century.

Background:

The Udayagiri Caves, sometimes referred to as the Udaigiri or Udaygiri or Udayagiri gupha, are ancient predominantly Hindu rock-cut monuments near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. They are among the oldest surviving Gupta Empire era monuments and cave temples in India (c. 375–450 CE). The site also contains some Jain caves excavated at the later date, as well as remains of Hindu structural temples on the top of the rocky hill that were built in later centuries. These caves near Vidisha should not be confused with the Udayagiri caves in the suburbs of Bhubaneswar, Odisha – which are predominantly Jain monuments.

The Udayagiri caves site contains a group of 20 caves, one monolithic pillar and one large structural temple ruins. All of the twenty caves except one are Hindu. Cave 20 at the northern top of the hill is the Jaina cave, while Cave 1 though originally for Surya, now has a Jain Tirthankara statue in a corner of the sanctum. The pillar and temple ruins are at the top of the Udayagiri hill. This site has many Brahmi and Nagari script inscriptions, of which three are particularly notable as they help date these caves variously to 402 CE and 425 CE. Others help confirm that this site remained in active Hindu use at least through the 11th-century. The Cave 5 and 6 contain famous sculptures such as one of Vishnu-Varaha.

Note: There are two numbering systems for the caves at the Udayagiri site. One is found in the colonial era surveys and related publications where caves were numbered as they were identified, another is the current and official ASI numbering for visitors as found at the site. Wikimedia commons categories below follow the official ASI numbering.