Udayagiri Caves, Vidisha

The Udayagiri Caves near Vidisha contain some of the most important and earliest surviving specimens of Hindu iconography from the Gupta era (4th–5th century CE). Cave 5 contains a magnificent 4-metre-tall relief of Vishnu as Varaha (the boar incarnation) rescuing the Earth goddess — a masterpiece of Indian sculpture.

Unlike rock-cut temples built purely as religious monuments, epigraphic evidence shows that the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II himself visited the site during military campaigns, making it a site of imperial devotion as well as artistic excellence.