Kanheri

   The Kanheri Caves are located north of Borivali on the western outskirts of Mumbai, India, deep within the green forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Kanheri comes from the Sanskrit word Krishnagiri generally meaning black in color. They were chiseled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.

topHistory 

    These caves date from 1st Century B.C. to 9th Century A.D. The earliest are 109 tiny rock-cut cells, carved into the side of a hill. Unlike the elegant splendor of Elephanta Caves nearby, these are sparten and unadorned. Each cave has a stone plinth for a bed. A congregation hall with huge stone pillars contains the stupa, a Buddhist shrine. Farther up the hill are the remains of an ancient water system, canals and cisterns that collected and channeled the rainwater into huge tanks. Once the caves became permanent monasteries, they began to be carved out of the rock with intricate reliefs of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas carved into the walls. Kanheri had become an important Buddhist settlement on the Konkan coast by the 3rd century A.D.

Most of the caves are the Buddhist viharas meant for living, study, and meditation. The larger caves were chaityas, or halls for congregational worship, are lined with intricately carved Buddhist sculptures, reliefs and pillars, and contain rock-cut stupas for congregational worship. The Avalokiteshwara is the most distinctive figure. One hundred inscriptions carved in in Brahmi, Devanagari and Pallavi scripts have been found. The large number of viharas obviously prove a well-organized existence of Buddhist monks' establishment, which was also connected with many trade centers such as the ports of Sopara, Kalyan, Nasik, Paithan and Ujjain. Kanheri was a University center by the time the area was under the rule of the Maurayan and Kushan empires.

topAttractions

    One of the largest groups of Buddhist caves but though numerous are much less interesting. All the caves are excavated in the face of a single circular hill rock. Durbar cave is 96.5'X42.5' but only 9' high. Mahagumpha, the great cave is 88.5'X38.5'X40' and is resting on 34 octagonal pillars. Most of the caves are simple and devoid of any sculpture. Faint traces of painting are found in one
cave. Inscription hi cave 3 refers to Sri Yajna Satkarni, the last Satvahan king who ruled overs western Maharashtra. This means that the cave was excavated during  the   begining   of  the   3rd   century  A.D.   The eleven headed Avalokiteshwar image is unique in India. One cave was used as a cemetery for the Buddhist monks. The cave hosts a number of memorial stupas, which find a mention here in various inscriptions. A wooden idol of Tara cast in the Pala

topReaching There

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No accommodation at the caves. But one can lodge in the hotels available in Borivali and nearby.