Hello everyone!
I love to ride and explore places. With this blog, ‘iroguehermit’, I intend to reach out to people like you and introduce you to the
places I visit.
Just recently I
visited Karla caves; the largest of the Karla-Bhaje-Bedse caves complex situated
near Lonavala and is merely 60-75 kilometers away from Pune.
These ancient Indian Buddhist
caves were carved from 2nd century BC and its development continued
till 5th century AD. Karla caves were called Valukura during that
time and since this place was on ancient trade route from Arabian Sea to Deccan
plateau, these caves might have held much significance in the past. These caves
are now protected monuments under the Archeological Survey of India.
You will have to
climb many steps to reach the caves and you may want to catch a few breaths on
your way up. Get an entry ticket of Rs.
15/-. If you are a foreign visitor, you will have to shell out Rs. 200/- though. A brief
introductory text is available if you are inclined to know details. If you are inclined towards admiring the
architecture and magnificence of the caves, head straight to the caves. At the entrance
there is a tall pillar and its top is adorned with sculptures of lions facing 4
sides. Another pillar is destroyed completely.
The left and
right side has sculptures of elephants and Buddha along with sculptures of
couples. These are a bit bold poses and I feel beauty of human bodies were
admired or rather celebrated. However, I always believed Buddhism advocated
monastic livelihood and was for meditating monks who delved deep in search of
keys of eternal happiness.
The outer walls
have beautifully carved repetitive designer frames which look like windows to
me. The carvings are extraordinarily fine and marvelous. There are inscriptions
written in Brahmi and Greek on walls and pillars. I could also spot Swastika
marked on a small portion. Swastika, in Indian culture is an auspicious symbol
and spotting it on such an old structure means the symbol and its meaning was
derived from Vedik or Sanatan Dharma. 
As I entered the
chaityagriha or prayer hall, I realized that it is bigger than that of Bhaje or
Bedse and has horse shoe styled wooden architecture at the ceiling. The stupa
has a wooden roof covering its top. Each of the pillars inside the hall has
beautiful sculptures on top and a few pillars have something written on them.
The scripts are Brahmi and old Greek. There is also one pillar that has
Devnagari script, which I believe to be carved much later. One pillar has
stupa, replica of pillar from Sarnath, which is my assumption and another
structure which I do not know about.
Just outside the prayer hall, there are a few
rooms that might have been used by monks for resting. A little farther, there
are more small rooms on ground and first floor connected by narrow stairs.
An entire tour
to the caves takes about 15-20 minutes. You may like to spend some more time
here, if there is no crowd. I suggest you to visit the caves during monsoon
when it is all lush green and the mesmerizing view at the top will make you spend
some more time, may be meditating like an old and wise Buddhist monk.
Do let me know how you feel about
visiting this place. Subscribe my YouTube channel i roguehermit, stay updated
on tweeter @i_roguehermit, read my blogs on iroguehermit.blogspot.in and follow
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Links are as below :
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