Junagadh, 25 January 2012

While shooting in Junagadh for Gujarat Tourism TV advertisement, bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan felt distressing seeing lovers expressing their fondness on the walls of 3rd and 4th century Buddhist caves.

“Distressing to note that among the letterings and carvings of old, there is evidence of modern defilement, where lovers find themselves expressing their fondness on the walls. Was this the only place in the entire city to express their ‘love’. There is no sense of pride in our heritage and in the preservation of what we must guard and secure from the ravages of time, as our most prized possession … our, our country’s .. India’s .. embarrassing !!” Shri Bachchan wrote on his blog.

With Shri Bachchan, several youths in Buddhist lama get up were seen at the cave site where Bachchan spent a day with shooting crew.

Narrating his version of the caves Shri Bachchan wrote on his blog, “The caves where we shoot are 3rd and 4th century, carved out of a single rock of mountain into rooms and drainages and storage for water compartments, stairs leading to other compartments below and generous sized rooms or areas with closeted walls. I wonder what went on in here in those times. They say they were Buddhist caves where meditation and peaceful existence of the Buddhist teachings were taught. Some reading that I was doing stated that Buddhism existed even before Hinduism, but that would be debatable.”

Bachchan added that some repairs have been conducted by the Archeological Survey of India, a Government body that looks after and cares about all heritage sites.

Further narrating about the caves, Shri Bachchan blogged, “The caves and the pillars and the rooms below, some walls strengthened by modern pillars to support the walls from caving in.”

“There are markings on some of the walls. They look Arabic and could be the remnants of the Moghul invasion and their rule over the country. These markings were found to be of a later date than the construction of the caves for Buddhist learning and meditation. Perhaps to justify the presence of the new rulers ! Below is some of the genuine and related carvings on the walls,” Bachchan wrote with presenting photograph of the markings on his blog.

🗃️ This story is from our archives and may contain outdated information.