Pancha Pandava Hill Cave, Vilapakkam

Click all pics for enlargement

Following Delhi Gate, our next halt was at Pancha Pandava Hill Cave and Rock Sculptures at a small town called Vilapakkam, about 6 km travel on state highway 129 from Arcot towards Kannamangalam. About 25 km from Vellore, the hilly area was a flourishing Jain centre between 9^th and 11^th centuries which is evident from the inscriptions and Jain figures found on the caves here.

The name Pancha Pandava Hill is associated with Pandavas from Mahabharath, although the hill is locally called as Tiruppanmalai meaning scared milk hill. The rock cut cave temple is a large excavation, carved on the eastern side of the huge hillock. We couldn’t get close to the rock cut cave due to the development work and pavement building, but my mom managed to capture few shots on the face of cave from a distance.

There's a Jaina tirthankara figure on the top of the rock face (click pic) to see him seated in yogasana. And it suggest how strong the Jaina influenced this part of  Vellore

Built in Pallava style, the cave has a large mukhamandapa or hall supported by twelve pillars in two rows, but in picture above only the front pillars is visible. The pillars are uniformly square from top to bottom and have curved corbels above the pillars and pilasters, which is another style mostly seen in Mahendra caves. Except seven niches carved on the back wall of the cave is empty cells with square uncarved blocks as side walls.

A beautiful lily pond next to the rock cave 

Situated right beside the road, the hill and cave is hard to miss and the site is protected by fence on roadside with two small gate entrances. Apart the cave, there’s a natural cavern atop the hill which is converted into a tarn by the construction of a retaining wall and rest is turned into mosque that seem to attract local people for worship.  The staircase to the mosque is carved on rocks and at some places arranged with rocks.

The white building on  the left image is the mosque, shot from the rear side of the hill and rock cut stairs on  left images.

The rock cave and sculptures is protected by archaeological survey of India. And the development process right now hopes to attract more people to the site and make access easily, which perhaps get me closer if checked later.

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia