History of First Man made Caves in Barabar plateau part 3 (1000 - 1200 years older then Ajanta) in Bihar.

Caves in Barabar plateau – About 80 km from Patna, the state capital of Bihar and Patna Airport and 24 km north from historical town Gaya, its Airport and Railway station, 36 km from Bodhgaya and 10 km from Belaganj railway station there is a group of small plateaus which are commonly known as “Barabar”. 

Close to this is “Nagarjuna” plateau. Historically the whole plateau is important and has many natural caves too. Siddhsawarnath, Murli, Sandgiri are naturally beautiful plateau.

Sudama Khoh – Due to the structure of the plateau this cave is built in length. Sudama Khoh is known as the oldest one in the plateau of Barabar. The area of this cave is 32 ft 9 inches x 10 ft 6 inches x 12 ft 3 inches. 

 In this cave there are 2 rooms. The inner room is near about round in shape and is 19 ft in diameter, the semi circle height of this room is 12 ft 3 inches; and the outer porch like room is in rectangular shape. There is a narrow passage with low roof, which connects both rooms. 

The wall, Roof and Floor of inner room which is round in shape is polished and shinny. They shine like mirror. Outer porch like room rectangular shape room is rough. The outer door of this cave is 7 ft and 6 inches high.

 In the cave there is an Inscription in Pali which describes about Ashoka and Ajivika (one of the Nastika or “heterodox” school of ancient Indian Philosophy).

Lomarshi cave – The structure of this cave is like Sudama Cave. In it too there are 2 rooms. They are typical to Sudama cave. There condition and structure is similar to Sudama cave.  

Still there is a big difference between Sudama and Lomarshi cave. The wall, Roof and Floor of inner room of Sudama cave is polished and shines, whereas the wall, Roof and Floor of inner room of Lomarshi cave is rough.

General Cunningham says that the period of this cave is 3rd – 4^th century BC. There is no Inscription of Mauryan period, but there is an Inscription of Gupta period.

Visvamitra Hut - This cave is also known as “Visva – Hut”. In this cave there are 2 rooms. Outer porch like room is rectangular in shape. This room is 14 feet long and 8.6 feet wide.   The wall of this room is polished and shinny. In this room there is a Inscription of Ashoka period, which says this cave is dedicated to Ajivika (one of the Nastika or “heterodox” school of ancient Indian Philosophy). 

This Inscription also reveals that in “Patanjali bhasya” there is a description of “Kaltika Parvat”. This “Kaltika parvat” is no other then this “Barabar Plateau”. Patanjalaya Bhasya says that “Kaltika parvat” is situated on the highway, which connects Kalinga, Rajagriha and Patliputra. 

The inner room is round in shape. The arch of this room is about 11 ft. The wall, Roof and Floor of this inner room is rough. There is no polish on it.