Location : 8-km south of Bhubaneswar, Orissa
Main Attractions : Ashokan Rock Eddicts & Elephant Sculpture
Dates Back : 3rd C.B.C.
Modern Edifice : Shanti Stupa

Dhauli hill on the bank of the river Daya is a little away from the main road as one drives to Puri / Konark from Bhubaneswar . This stands as the mute witness to the great 'Kalinga' war which fought in the 3rd century B.C. the great transformation, unprecedented in whole of the world, took place here.

Ashokan Rock-Eddicts

Ashoka, the great seeing the horrors of war changed his mind in favour of spiritual conquests in preference to his war exploits. He donned orange robes and the world saw in Ashoka the making of a great patron of Buddhism. Dhauli is famous for the Ashokan rock-edicts, which are inscribed on a rock, with the relief of an emerging elephant at the top. These contain eleven of the well-known set of fourteen rock-edicts found within the limits of the Ashokan Empire. Here Ashoka had got inscribed two separate rock edicts especially for the people of Kalinga.

The Stupa of Peace

The serenity of the place and the legacy of Buddhism motivated the "Kalinga Nippon-Buddha Sangha", under the guidance of 'Guruji Fujii', Founder President of "Nipponzan Myohoji" of Japan to establish a "Peace Pagoda" or "Shanti Stupa" at Dhauli. along with the construction of a monastery called "Saddharma Vihar" in early seventies.

Along with the Ashokan Edicts, the peace pagoda and modern Buddhist monastery, Dhauli offers the visitors small rock cut caves, Hindu temples of early medieval period and a renovated Shiva temple dedicated to Lord 'Dhavalesvara' on top of the hill as added attractions.

The beautiful rural landscape, the old monuments, the new peace pagoda and the temple on the top of the hill with a winding Daya river flowing by offers a sublime tranquility and meditative serenity.

Coming down to the main road by a flight of steps in front of Cave-17, and going up the road for about 15m, the visitor will find a track to his left leading to the top of the Khandagiri hill. Following this track for a few metres, the first cave on the hill will be encountered.

CAVE-1 (TATOWA-GUMPHA 1):

Cave-1, the first of the two known as Tatowa-gumpha, from the figures of parrots carved on the arches of their doorways, consists of a low cell, with two doorways, fronted by a benched verandah. The ceiling of the verandah is supported on a pillar, octagonal in the middle and square below and above, with the characteristic chamfering of the corners and two pilasters. On the inner face of the pillar is a bracket, relieved with lotuses, honeysuckles and rosettes.

Guarding the entrance to the cave and standing in front of the pilasters are two sentries, clad in dhotis and scarves and armed with swords. The sidewalls of the verandah each have a shelf. The floor of the verandah is at a much lower level than that of the cell. The eaves projecting over the verandah have fallen away.

Entrance to the cell is provided by two doorways flanked by pilasters crowned by a pair of addorsed animals, bulls in the case of the right doorway and lions in the left. From the top of the capitals spring the semi-circular arches (makaara-tarana), one relieved with a creeper and the other lotuses alternating with honeysuckles, issuing from the mouths of a makara.

The spaces between the arches and sidewalls have patterns simulating the barrel-shaped roof supported on brackets and crowned by a row of finials carved against a background of railing-motif. Similarly roofed structures are common in the reliefs of Bharhut.

Access to the monuments on the Udayagiri hill is provided by flights of steps and an imposing ancient ramp rising gradually from the foot of the hill and reaching the high terrace in front of Cave-14 (Hathi-gumpha). On reaching the lowest terrace, the visitor will turn to his right and proceeding with the hill to his left, reach Cave-1.

Cave-1 (Rani-gumpha):

Cave-1 is the largest and most beautiful of the Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves. Excavated on an ambitious scale on three sides of a quadrangle, it is now shorn of its pristine grandeur due to the collapse of the pillared verandah of the lower storey of the main wing, exposing the sculptured façade to the inclemencies of weather with the resultant destruction.

The monastery is double-storeyed; the upper storey, however, is not immediately above the lower one but recedes a few metres away into the rocky mass, leaving the top of the verandah and cells of the lower one to form an open terrace. The cave is not of great significance architecturally, its importance being due more to its sculpture. In fact, it holds a unique place amidst the contemporary rock-cut caves by virtue of its lavishly -sculptured