Sit in a cave
People have gone to these rooms to be alone for two thousand two hundred years
What it is
Four rock chambers within reach of one another. Barabar's granite is polished to a mirror and was cut for the Ajivika ascetics in Ashoka's reign — the oldest rock-cut caves in India. Dungeshwari is where the Buddha is said to have fasted almost to death. Saptaparni above Rajgir is where the first council recited his teaching to fix it. Pippala is a stone chamber on the same hill.
Why it matters
The echo inside Barabar is the point of Barabar: one clap holds for seconds against walls cut and polished by hand before the Common Era, by a method nobody has satisfactorily explained. E. M. Forster put these caves in A Passage to India.
How it works
- Barabar and Nagarjuni: drive from Gaya, then climb. Start before nine.
- Dungeshwari: a short drive and a stepped climb from Bodh Gaya.
- Saptaparni and Pippala: steps up from the hot springs at Rajgir.
- Who it is for
- Anybody who can climb. All four involve bare rock or steps.
- Not for
- Anybody who cannot manage an unshaded climb on uneven granite.
- Best season
- Oct - Feb
- Difficulty
- Moderate to hard, depending on the hill
- Cost
- Free. A guide at Barabar is worth paying for and is arranged by the office.
- When
- Year round. Not in the middle of the day in summer.
- Booking
- None. A car and a guide are arranged by Tirtham.
- Book ahead
- A day
- Languages
- Hindi, English
Rules
- Shoes off inside the Dungeshwari and Saptaparni shrines
- Barabar has no facilities of any kind. None.
What to bring
- Water, more than you think
- A hat
- Shoes with grip, not sandals
Where
- Barabar Caves: Shaiva devotees climb to the Siddheshwar Nath temple, and the caves draw pilgrims and visitors as the...
- Lomas Rishi Cave: Visitors come for the facade; devotional use of the cave itself is historical rather than current
- Nagarjuni Caves: They are visited as the companion set to Barabar and as some of the oldest dated rock-cut chambers and...
- Dungeshwari Cave Temple: This is where Siddhartha Gautama is believed to have practised severe austerities for six years before...
- Saptaparni Cave: It is held to be where the First Buddhist Council met after the Buddha's parinirvana and where Ananda...
- Pippala Cave: Buddhists visit it as Mahakashyapa's dwelling and a meditation retreat; Hindu visitors come for the...
- Gupta Dham: To offer worship at the self-formed Shivling deep inside the cave, especially during the Shivratri fair
- Son Bhandar Caves: Jain pilgrims come for the arhat images and the Vairadeva inscription, one of the oldest datable Jain...
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