Kanheri Caves

The Kanheri Caves are located north Borivali on the western outskirts of Mumbai, deep within the green forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Kanheri caves are one of the biggest Buddhist monastic establishments on the Konkan coast. It is located on 7 kms. from Borivali station on Western Railways. The word Kanheri is derived from the Sanskrit word Krishnagiri generally meaning black in color. They were chiseled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping. These caves date from 1st Century B.C. to 9th Century A.D. The earliest are 102 tiny rock-cut cells carved into the side of a hill. Unlike the elegant splendor of Elephanta caves, these are spartan and unadorned. Each cave has a stone plinth for a bed.

Statues of Buddha carved in stone

Caves carved into the side of the hill

View:- Buddha Stupa

Congregation Hall

A congregation hall with huge stone pillars contains the stupa, a Budhist shrine.

Ancient water system

Farther up the hill are the remains of an ancient water system, canals and cisterns that collected and channelized 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 (the halls for congregational worship). They 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 Brahmi, Devanagari and Pahlavi 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 and Nasik, Paithan and Ujjain. Kanheri was a University centre during the period when the area was under the rule of the Maurya Dynasty and Kushan empires.