On our 3 weeks road trip across Madhya Pradesh, we visited Udayagiri Caves of Vidisha along with the Stupas of Sanchi on a trip from Orchha to Bhopal. And what a beautiful ancient site they are!! I am always intrigued by caves and ancient carvings on those caves. How they unravel the layers of history and the journey of civilisation is simply amazing. The other tryst with historical caves that I had in past are the caves at Edakkal in Wayanad. Where there are neolithic period carvings made by the ancient map. And the Belum Caves near Gandikota in Andhra – one of the longest and deepest caves that I have been to.
But the Udayagiri Caves of Vidisha are something else. Their carvings and temples are so unique, and the idols are so proportionate. Until I saw them, I couldn’t believe that they were carved there in the rocks. And not really brought from somewhere else and just kept there. Now, let me take you with me on a virtual tour of these Udayagiri caves of Vidisha today.
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Udayagiri Caves History
The Udayagiri caves are a set of 20 rock cut caves. These are built around the early 5th centuary CE. So, they are literally more than 2000 years old!! Can you imagine cutting monolith rocks and making such intricate carvings out of them in that era!! Without any of the modern tools of this time. In fact, some of the temples at Udayagiri caves are the oldest known Hindu and Jain temples. These temples have idols of Vishnu, Shiva, Ganpati and several other prominent Hindu Gods and Goddess inside several caves. Also, Parshvanath of Jainism is depicted at several places. There are also iconographies in the caves and on the entrance to the temples. These are also some of the most ancient iconographies of India.
The rules at the time when these caves were built, were the Gupta dynasty. And the time period coincides to that of Chandragupta II.
To protect the idols, the cave entrances are now barred. So that no one can enter inside. The whole region is surrounded by rocky terrain. And there are several ruins of ancient empire and ancient civilisation around the Udayagiri Cave Temples. These include some water and irrigation systems, ancient buildings, inscriptions and forts.
Within the campus, there are a total of 20 caves. Some are big and some small. Each cave is numbered. And each cave consists of one idol, dedicated to one God – Hindu or Jain. The idols are big and small. Some are still fully intact while some others have lost parts over the period of time. Some notable idols are those of Vishu’s Varha Avatar and Vamana Avatar, a Shivalinga with a face in front of it, Shakti Avarat of Goddess Durga, Parvati, Brahma, Shiva, Aditya, Agni, Vayu, 11 Rudras, Rishis, Ganadevata, Lakshami, Narada and even the ministers and kings of the Gupta empire !
How to walk around Udayagiri Caves
As you enter the premises, walk towards your left. And you will cross all these caves one by one. At the end, you will need to climb atop the hill from where you get a great view of the surroundings. As you get down the other side through a flight of stairs, you will come full circle once again towards the entrance. And you will also encounter a big Shiva temple here. We took a total of around 1.5 hrs to completely explore the cave temples.
Location of Udayagiri Caves of Vidisha
Udayagiri Caves are located in the center of Madhya Pradesh. In the district of Vidisha. They lie very near to Sanchi. In fact, the distance between the Sanchi Stupas and the Udayagiri Caves is just ~7km. And they are also quiet close to the highway connecting Vidisha to Bhopal – the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. The Udayagiri Caves of Vidisha are located outside the main town. So, one need not enter the town for reaching the Caves. In fact, the last stretch of road to the Udayagiri Caves runs through lush green fields and beautiful countryside. Watch our youtube video to drive all the way to Udayagiri Caves with us.
How to reach Udayagiri Caves of Vidisha
Udayagiri Caves are located on the outskirts of the town of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. So, you can easily reach them by both road and rail network. Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh is located just 58km from Bhopal. Making for a perfect weekend getaway from Bhopal. And they can also be visited while on the way to northern Madhya Pradesh from Bhopal or vice versa. We ourselves visited Udayagiri Caves along with the Stupas of Sanchi on our way from Orchha to Bhopal. After spending a week working from Orchha and exploring the Orchha fort and other attractions, when we transitioned to Madhya Pradesh, we deliberately chose to halt at Sanchi and Udayagiri to make the most of our trip.
Timings of Udayagiri Caves Madhya Pradesh
The Udayagiri Caves are inside a campus which is open from 9:00am to 6:00pm on all days of the week.
What are the facilities at Udayagiri Caves
The area around Udayagiri Caves is very well maintained. The whole cave complex is located inside a big fenced campus. And right opposite it’s entrance is another campus with other facilities for the convenience of the visitors. In fact, I was really impressed all through my MP Road trip to find the tourist attractions very well maintained. Be it the Bhedaghat area in Jabalpur or the huge temple complex of Khajuraho or the fort of Orchha – we found all places to be neat and clean and well maintained. Hats off to MPTourism for that.
Parking at the Udayagiri Caves
The campus opposite to the Udayagiri Cave entrance has ample parking facility. It is gates and there is marked parking locations inside where one can conveniently park. The parking is free of cost.
Entrance fee at the Udayagiri Caves
The entrance fee of Udayagiri Caves is INR 15/- per adult for Indian citizen and INR 200/- per adult for foreign nationals. And the ticket counter is in the same campus towards the end, where the parking is there. So, after parking your vehicle, you can proceed to first take the tickets before going to the caves.
Restroom facility at Udayagiri Caves
Along side the ticket counter, there are restrooms as well. Another convenience for visitors not always found at all the tourist locations in India. Traveling with kids, it’s always a relief for us to locate a clean restroom.
Food facility at Udayagiri Caves
One thing that is not present at the Udayagiri Caves or nearby is food. Based on what time you plan to reach here, better to time your meal before or after visiting the Udayagiri Caves, on the highway or in the town of Vidisha. In fact, finding a good food outlet was really a challenge for us on this trip from Orchha to Bhopal. Good that we had packed our breakfast from our hotel in Orchha. And the portions were enough for lunch as well.
Although you will find some simple snack stalls near the entrance gate of Udayagiri caves. Selling stuff like roasted corn (“Bhutta”) or popcorn or icecream. But you can’t carry food inside the Udayagiri caves campus anyways. So, please bear the same in mind. I think it is a sensible rule. Given people tend to litter when they carry food and plastic bottles inside the tourist places, and then its a very unwelcome sight!
Which other places to visit with Udayagiri Caves
Sanchi is located just 8km from Udayagiri. As such, it really makes sense to visit the Stupas of Sanchi along with the Udayagiri Caves.
Another beautiful and historical place on way from Udayagiri Caves of Vidisha to Bhopal is the Raisen Fort. I very much wanted to cover the fort as well. But alas, I ran out of time. But I was covering a very long distance all the way from Orchha to Bhopal. If you are in Bhopal and doing a day trip from there. Visit the Raisen Fort, followed by Sanchi Stupa and Udayagiri Caves in that order. You can cover all three of them together.
Tips on visiting the Udayagiri Caves
- October to March is idle time to visit the Udayagiri Caves in Vidisha and other places in Madhya Pradesh as well.
- Wear comfortable walking shoes. Although stairs are cut out of the stones for easy walking, still wearing shoes is better.
- Arrange for food in Vidisha town or on the highway, there are no food outlets near Udayagiri Caves.
- Carry drinking water bottle with you, but take care not to dispose inside the campus. Do dispose them responsibly.
- There is no shelter around the caves in case it rains or the sun gets too harsh. So, visit them on a non-rainy day and also when the sun is not very harsh. Or else in the morning or late evening hours. We ourselves visited here after visiting Sanchi Stupas. We reached Udayagiri Caves by 4:00pm when the sun was already going down. So, the weather was pleasant.
- Best option to stay nearby will be in Bhopal which is just 90minutes away from Udayagiri Caves. Here’s a list of places you can browse through to stay in Bhopal. We stayed at KSTDC resort in Bhopal which was very comfortable and nicely located.
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