Rock Cut Narasimha Temple - Dudhai

(Image from google)

The ancient temple of Lord Narasimha cut into the roce face of a hillside way in the village of Dudhai in the Lalitpur district of Uttarpradesh. The site is listed as a sacred site by the Archaeological Survey of India. The sculpture is dated back to 5th century and can be classified as Gupta sculpture. We can classify this as forgotten treasures of India.

The statue is 30 feet tall and is crafted according to the rock formation which add more grandeour and design for the statue. The image of the Asura Hiranyakasipu is sculpted as if he is laying across the Lord's lap. The dress, the jewellery everything is detailed according to the rock formation. But unless and untill we move to a closer distance, the image of Lord Narasimha is not visible as it is clearly camaflagued by the formation of the rocks.

How to reach:
The village of Dudhai is located 50 kilometers from the centre of Lalitpur district and it is 100 kms south of Jhansi. Drive down NH26 from Lalitpur, and one have to turn off the highway at Bagaria and drive to Dudhai via the village of Pali which is 28kms off from the highway turn off. The road to the hill site is a forest road built during the British era, but is used mainly by cattle drawn vehicles so it is better to use vehicles that can run on rough terrain. 

Ashoka Pillar - Saranath

The Ashoka Pillar or the Ashoka Stupa is the series of columns either in stone or in iron erected by the Mauryan king Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BC. Many of these pillars are almost 40 to 50 ft in height and upto 50 tons each. The pillars are found in Delhi (originally located at Meerut and Topra which was bought by Firuz Shah Tughlug in the year 1356), Allahabad (Which was at Kaushambi), Lauriya - Areraj, Lauriya - Nandangarh, Rampurva, Sankissa, Sanchi and Sarnath. There are pillars found with inscriptions in Lumbini and Nigalisagar. The pillar at Vaishali have one lion capital and the one at Rampurva have one bull capital. 

The pillars were found to be carved out of either spotted red and white sand stone found in the region of Mathura, and the other is fine grained hard sand stonewith small black spots quarried in Chunnar near Varanasi.  

All the pillars are uniform in style and have four parts. The shafts are plain and smooth and circular. The shaft tapers towards the top and are made of single piece of stone. The captials on top have the shape and appearance of a gently arched bell formed of lotus petals. The base are either square or circular in shape. The animals are either sitting or standing on the round chiseled single piece with abaci.

The most famous Ashoka Pillar is the pillar at Saranath which was eventually made the national emblem of India.