Barabar Caves

At the Barabar Hill Road, Barabar, Sultanpur, lies the ancient set of 7 rock-cut-caves known as the Barabar caves. The caves are known to be of the third century BC. The caves see its position on the twin hills of Barabar and Nagarjuni. These caves are also famed as Lomas Rishi Cave, Sudama Cave and Vishwamitra Cave among the locals. Among the 7caves, 4 lies in Barabar and 3 in Nagarjuni. The caves are carved out of granite and feature two chambers each along with a highly polished surface, free of any kind of sculpture or embellishments. Barabar caves are famed for their wonderful and ancient architecture. These were probably the first caves that saw the use of the Chaitya Arch in stone. The caves have inscriptions dating back to the Mauryan period. An inscription found in the Sudama cave depicts that the four caves on Barabar hill were assigned by King Ashoka to Ajivika monks in 261 BC. Yet another inscription on the Nagarjuni hill, by the grandson of King Ashoka, Dasaratha Maurya, tells that the Ajivikas continued to enjoy imperial Mauryan patronage for long.