The Aurangabad caves, are twelve rock-cut Buddhist shrines located on a hill running roughly east to west, close to the city of Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The first reference to the Aurangabad Caves is in the great chaitya of Kanheri Caves. The Aurangabad Caves were dug out of comparatively soft basalt rock during the 6th and 7th century.
The caves are divided into three separate groups depending on their location:[1] these are usually called the "Western Group", with Caves I to V (1 to 5), the "Eastern Group", with Caves VI to IX (6 to 9), and a "Northern Cluster", with the unfinished Caves X to XII (9 to 12).[2]
The carvings at the Aurangabad Caves are notable for including Hinayana style stupa, Mahayana art work and Vajrayana goddess. These caves are among those in India that show 1st millennium CE Buddhist artwork with goddesses such as Durga, and gods such as Ganesha, although Buddhist caves in other parts of India with these arts are older.[3] Numerous Buddhist deities of the Tantra tradition are also carved in these caves.[3][4]
19°55′01″N 75°18′43″E / 19.917°N 75.312°E
- ^ Qureshi, Dulari (1998). Art and Vision of Aurangabad Caves. New Delhi: Bhartiya Kala Prakashan. ISBN 81-86050-11-6.
- ^ Fergusson, 385-392; Brancaccio, "Contents" etc
- ^ a b Pia Brancaccio (2010). The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion. BRILL Academic. pp. 21, 41, 150, 181, 190–192, 202–209 with footnotes. ISBN 978-90-04-18525-8.
- ^ David B. Gray; Ryan Richard Overbey (2016). Tantric Traditions in Transmission and Translation. Oxford University Press. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-0-19-990952-0.