LOST CITIES OF

INDIA

MEENA KUMARI M.
Department of Kannada
Govt. First Grade College,
Maluru, Kolara, Karnataka
VIJAYANAGARA (KARNATAKA)
STONE CHARIOT

KALYANI
near Mahanvami Dibba
 One of the Greatest Empire in India

 Vijayanagar, the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires ever, was founded by Sangama
dynasty princes Harihara and Bukka in 1336. Its power peaked under Krishnadevaraya
(1509-29), when it controlled nearly the whole of the peninsula south of the Krishna and
Tungabhadra rivers. Comparable to Delhi in the 14th century, the city, with an estimated
population of half a million, covered 33 sq km and was surrounded by several concentric
lines of fortification. Its wealth derived from the control of spice trade and the cotton
industry. Its busy bazaars, described by travelers such as Portuguese Nunez and Paes, were
centers of international commerce. The empire collapsed after the battle of Talikota in 1565
when the city was ransacked by the confederacy of Deccan sultans (Bidar, Bijapur,
Golconda, Ahmednagar and Berar), thus opening up southern India for Muslim conquest.
 The ruins are set in a strange and beautiful boulder strewn landscape with an almost
magical quality. The undisputed highlight, the 16th century Vittala Temple, is a World
Heritage Monument. Started by Krishnadevaraya, it was never finished or consecrated; its
incredible sculptural work is the pinnacle of Vijayanagar art. The outer pillars are known
as musical pillars as they reverberate when tapped. An ornate stone chariot in the temple
courtyard containing an image of Garuda.
BADAMI (KARNATAKA)
CAVE

BHUT
ANAT
HA
TEMP
AL
 CHALUKYA EMPIRE

 Badami lies at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that

surrounds Agastya Tirtha tank (an artificial lake) on three sides. It was
founded by Pulakesin I of the Chalukya dynasty. Once the capital of
the Chalukyas, Badami, called Vatapi back then, is best known today
for its rock-cut cave temples. The caves, sculpted in the 6th and 7th
centuries CE, depict Hindu, Buddhist and Jain iconography. Cave 1 is
devoted to Shiva, caves 2 and 3 are dedicated to Vishnu, and cave 4
displays reliefs of Jain Tirthankaras. A natural cave nearby is
dedicated to the Buddha. Carvings of Hindu Gods are strewn across
the area in other caverns and on boulders. Two Bhutanatha temples
stand facing the lake. Together, these monuments represent the early
styles and stages of south Indian temple architecture.
KHAJURAHO (M.P.)
 KHAJURAHO

 Khajuraho is a famous tourist and archaeological site known for its sculptured
temples dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Jain patriarchs. Khajuraho was one of the
capitals of the Chandela kings, who from the 9th to the 11th century CE developed
a large realm, which at its height included almost all of what is now Madhya
Pradesh state. Khajuraho extended over 21 sq. km and contained about 85
temples built by multiple rulers from about 950 to 1050. In the late 11th century
the Chandela, in a period of chaos and decline, moved to hill forts elsewhere.
Khajuraho continued its religious importance until the 14th century (Ibn Batuta
was impressed by it) but was afterwards largely forgotten; its remoteness
probably saved it from the desecration that Muslim conquerors generally inflicted
on Hindu monuments. In 1838 a British army captain, TS Burt, employed by the
Asiatic Society in Calcutta, came upon information that led him to the rediscovery
of the complex of temples in the jungle in Khajuraho.
 KHAJURAHO
 Of the 85 original temples-most constructed of hard river sandstone-about 20
are still reasonably well preserved. Both internally and externally the temples
are richly carved with excellent sculptures that are frequently sensual and, at
times, sexually explicit. The temples are divided into three complexes-the
western is the largest and best known, containing the magnificent Shaivite
temple Kandariya Mahadev, a 31m high agglomeration of porches and turrets
culminating in a spire. Modern Khajuraho is a small village, serving the tourist
trade with hotels and an airport. Khajuraho's name derives from the
prevalence of khajur, or date palms, in the area.
NALANDA Bihar
 KHAJURAHO
 Nalanda was a famous Buddhist monastery and university. The region's traditional history
dates to the time of the Buddha and Mahavira (6th-5th cent. BCE). Nagarjuna, it is said,
studied there. Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) reveal that the
monasteries belong to the Gupta period (5th cent. CE), now considered the beginning of
Nalanda University, where subjects like theology, grammar, logic, philosophy, metaphysics,
astronomy, and medicine were taught. The Gupta kings were a major patron of Nalanda, as
was Harshavardhana, the powerful 7th-century ruler of Kannauj. During his reign, the
Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited Nalanda and left a vivid account of the curriculum and
of the general features of the community. I-ching, another pilgrim a generation later, also left
an account of the life of the monks.
 Between 8th-12th cent., Nalanda flourished under the Pala dynasty as a centre of learning
and the arts (stone and bronze sculpture in particular), even as Buddhism began a broad
decline in India. Nalanda was put to a brutal and decisive end by Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkish
invader (c. 1200), who is said to have looted and burned the monastery and killed its senior
monks. Local legend has it that the three libraries of Nalanda were so large that they burned
for six months.
 KHAJURAHO

 10,000 monks and 1,500 teachers once inhabited Nalanda in

108 monasteries, which often had two or more floors.
Excavations have revealed a row of ten monasteries of oblong
red bricks; each has rooms (single or double occupancy, with
wooden doors back then) lining four sides of a courtyard, a
main entrance on one side, and a shrine facing the entrance in
the courtyard. A row of larger shrines, or stupas, in brick and
plaster, stand in front of the monasteries. Teachers lived
among the students in each monastery, other common
features of which include a podium for lectures, a communal
brick oven, a bathroom, a water well (often with octagonal
cross-section, supposedly inspired by the Eightfold Path).
SANCHI (M.P.)
 STUPA

YAKSHI
Eastern gate
 SANCHI STUPA
 A UNESCO world heritage site in central India near the Betwa River. On
a flat-topped sandstone hill, 90m above the countryside, stands the best-
preserved group of Buddhist monuments in India. Most noteworthy is
the Great Stupa, discovered in 1818. It was probably begun by the
emperor Aśoka in the mid-3rd century BCE and later enlarged. Solid
throughout, it is enclosed by a massive stone railing pierced by four
gateways on which are elaborate carvings depicting the life of the
Buddha. The stupa itself consists of a base bearing a hemispherical dome
representing the dome of heaven enclosing the Earth; it is surmounted by
a squared rail unit, the world mountain, from which rises a mast to
symbolize the cosmic axis. The mast bears umbrellas that represent the
various heavens. Other remains include several smaller stupas, an
assembly hall (caitya), an Aśokan pillar with inscription, and several
monasteries (4th-11th cent. CE). Several relic baskets and more than 400
epigraphical records have also been discovered.
AJANTHA (M.H.)
 Cave 26 sculpture

Cave 19 stupa
 AJANTHA CAVE
 Ajanta, a UNESCO world heritage site, is famous for its
Buddhist rock-cut cave temples and monasteries with their
extraordinary wall paintings. The temples are hollowed out of
granite cliffs on the inner side of a 20-meter ravine in the
Wagurna River valley, 105 km northeast of Aurangabad, at a
site of great scenic beauty. About 30 caves were excavated
between the 1st century BCE and the 7th century CE and are of
two types, caityas ("sanctuaries") and viharas ("monasteries").
Although the sculpture, particularly the rich ornamentation of
the caitya pillars, is noteworthy, it is the fresco-type paintings
that are the chief interest of Ajanta. These paintings depict
colorful Buddhist legends and divinities with an exuberance
and vitality that is unsurpassed in Indian art. 
ELLORA (M.H.)
The cave temples of Ellora, a UNESCO world heritage site , are the pinnacle of Deccan rock
cut architecture. Over five centuries, generations of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monks
carved chapels, monasteries, and temples from a 2 km long escarpment and decorated them
with a profusion of sculptures of remarkable imagination and detail. In all there are 34
caves at Ellora: 12 Buddhist (600-800 CE), 17 Hindu (600-900 CE) and 5 Jain (800-1000
CE). Ellora represents the renaissance of Hinduism under the Chalukya and Rashtrakuta
dynasties, the subsequent decline of Indian Buddhism, and a brief resurgence of Jainism
under official patronage. The sculpture shows the increasing influence of Tantric elements
in India's three great religions, and their coexistence at one site indicates a prolonged period
of religious tolerance.
The masterpiece of Ellora is the Kailasa Temple, one of the most audacious feats of
architecture ever conceived. Dedicated to Shiva, it is the world's largest monolithic
sculpture, hewn from the rock by 7000 laborers over a 150 year period. Attributed to king
Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty c. 760 AD, the idea was not only to build an enormous
and fantastically carved representation of Mt. Kailasa, Shiva's home in the Himalaya, but
to create it from a single piece of stone by first cutting three huge trenches into the rock of
the Ellora cliff face and then 'releasing' the shape of the temple using hammers and chisels.
Of overwhelming scale, it covers twice the area of the Parthenon in Athens, is 1-1/2 times as
high, and entailed removing 200,000 tons of rock. Around the temple are a variety of
dramatic and finely carved panels, depicting scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata
and the life of Krishna.
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