Exploring the 2000 years old Buddhist Cave clusters at Junnar.

Entrance to the Bhutlinga caves. Photo by Saili Palande Datar.

When the shout-out in one of the dailies mentioned, “exotic Buddhist caves”, I knew I had to go! And I was delighted to know that the tour was organized by a team of an Archaeologist and Indologist, which meant that there would be a rich wealth of information and stories, to satiate the history buff in me.

Copy of the Brahmi script. 

Somehow I couldn’t transfer the fees for the tour in time, and pleaded fervently (lol) with Saili Palande Datar , the co-founder of Heritage Insights, with whom I travelled, to include me, on the eve of departure. The pleading did work, and I found myself, the next day, with an equally eager and enthusiastic bunch of people ready to explore the lesser known, 2000 years old cave clusters in Junnar, in Maharashtra. I was surprised to know that there are around 185 such caves in the Junnar region alone and many of them yet to be discovered.

Map with the locations of Buddhist caves in Maharashtra. 

Map of the Indo-Roman trade routes. 

It was extremely fascinating to know how these caves came to be developed. After the Samadhi of Gautama Buddha, his disciples took upon the task of spreading Buddhism all over the world, starting with India. Often they travelled with traders on well-known trade routes. But during the Monsoon, they stayed put in one place for shelter. This was called Varshavaasya, ‘varsha’ meaning rains and ‘vaasya’ meaning residence. Initially, probably they must have sought out natural caves, but when monks starting extending their stay beyond the four months of Varshavaasya, they started building permanent monasteries and cave dwellings. The funding for building the monasteries came mainly from the traders who would seek shelter and food in exchange for funds. The type of funds varied from wood, vessels, grains, cloth, etc.

Entrance to the Chaitya griha of Amba-Ambika caves. 

The sculpture of Amba-Ambika from which the caves derive their name. 

The whole Amba Ambika cave cluster. 

Several inscriptions on the stone also revealed that projects within the cave complex too were sponsored, like water reservoirs, or specific pillars, as an action of ‘punya’, or benevolent actions done specifically for atonement of sins or to appease the Gods that be. This is similar to what we see in parks or buildings, stating that the seats or certain amenities have been donated by a certain person. Several parts of the monastery like meditation cells, or the ceiling or relief work were left unfinished due to the unsuitable nature of the rock and seepage, although in some other caves, elsewhere, work has been left incomplete due to shortage of funds, much like some construction projects of today. Some things don’t change even in 2000 years, I thought to myself!

Entrance to the Bhutlinga caves. Notice the intricate carving on the facade. 

The Chaitya griha with a domed ceiling.

And who were these traders and where did they come from? These were Roman traders who carried out trade via sea, through Egypt, Alexandria and Arabia. The ports where the ships were anchored were Bhrugukachh (Bharuch in Gujarat), Shurparak (now known as Nalasopara in Mumbai) and Calliena (Kalyan near Mumbai). The Romans carried cotton, ivory, spices, silk, pearls, and exotic fauna like tigers, cheetah, peacock, and rhinos to Europe and in return brought gold, silver, wine and slave women to India. The goods brought would be loaded onto bullocks which passed via different ghats to reach important cities in the Deccan region like, Junnar, Pratishthan (Paithan), Nasik and Tagar (Ter).

Carving of a Bodhi tree.

The sculptures of Naga and Garuda. Notice the wings on the figure to the left and the multi-hooded snake behind the figure on the right. 

The then major dynasties of India, the Satvahana and Kshatrapa fought amongst themselves to control the trade routes, as that would mean a lot of wealth as the passes or ‘ghats’ on the Western Ghats were used as collection points for taxes, equivalent to the toll that we have today. It was interesting to know that for traders who used the pass often, they even had discounts similar to the discount on monthly toll passes of today.

Inscriptions stating that a trader has sponsored work for this part of the cave. 

Intricate carvings. 

So the cave monasteries and the Indo-Roman trade had a symbiotic relationship each thriving on the other. But after the 2^nd century BC, the Roman economy collapsed thus impacting the trade which came to a grinding halt towards the 3^rd century CE (Christ Era).

Carvings of Goddess Lakshmi in the centre and elephants, devotees and floral motifs. Photo by Minal Karekar and Swapna Pataskar

A closer shot. Photo by Saili Palande Datar. 

Our first stop was at Manmodi hill, where after a short uphill trek we reached the cave named Amba-Ambika. During the briefing, Yashodhan Joshi, another co-founder of Heritage Insights, showed us the map of the ancient Indo-Roman trade route and also handed copies of the ancient Brahmi script (the language used was Prakrit with a few words of Sanskrit origin) which we used later to understand inscriptions (with a lot of difficulty). All the caves we visited were carved out from the mountain or hill. The cave cluster called Amba-Ambika derives its name from the sculpture of Goddess Ambika which was carved by the Jains in the 9^th and 10^th century CE, after the caves were abandoned by the Buddhist monks. This was a two stories cave cluster with an unfinished Chaitya Griha (prayer hall with a stupa at one end). Two pot based pillars at the entrance were re-constructed by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) and were hence of a different colour. Around 50 inscriptions regarding donations made for the construction of this cave have been found in the Chaitya griha.

Water reservoirs. Rain water harvesting was done even then. 

Further down the Amba-Ambika caves are the Bhutlinga caves, named after the main Chaitya griha with ‘naga’ (snake) and ‘garuda’ (eagle) motifs and the stupa which is considered a ‘Shivlinga’ by locals. The façade of the cave was very well done and was donated by an Indo-Greek trader (locally called yavans) named Chanda, as we learnt from an inscription.

The dents on these stones are for sticking in wooden sticks and watering it, so that when the wood expanded the pressure would break the stones. Here they are left unfinished.

Copper deposits in a rock which render it green. Somewhere on the way...

All these two cave groups were built or rather carved between 1^st to 3^rd centuries CE. Considering that entire caves had to be cut out from the hill, one would think that it would have taken a hundred years for them to have been built. But Saili, the Archaeologist in the team said that one cave cluster would have taken around 15-20 years. This and well as other facts about the life of the monks and ruling dynasties have been gleaned  from years of research by scholars through various sources like coins, inscriptions, references to the names on inscriptions found in the literature of the period, etc.

The Chaitya griha at Tulja caves. 

A distant shot of Tulja caves.

By this time we were satiated by this interesting history and it was time to satiate our hunger. We headed to an eatery in an agro-tourism enterprise called Amantran and after a lip-smacking traditional lunch, headed to the Tulja cave group. The name derives from the deity Goddess Tulja whose shrine was built in a much later period in one of the abandoned caves. This cave group is considered much older than the rest by scholars, which means it wasbuilt in the 1^st century CE or even earlier. There was a circular Chaitya griha here as opposed to the hall like spaces in the previous caves with 12 octagonal pillars around it which indicates that it is from an earlier period.

On the way to Naneghat. Notice the triangular natural formations on the rock. 

Our last stop was a cave in Naneghat. On the way to the cave we were greeted by a giant stone pot which was believed to have been used for tax collection by the then queen of the ruling Satvahana dynasty, called Nayanika or Naganika. This is not a Buddhist cave but was built more as a commemoration of the main political people of the time. In this cave all the three walls of the cave were covered with inscriptions which give a lot of details about the politics of the time. The names of Shri Satkarni and his wife Nayanika, who was a very influential queen feature prominently in the inscriptions. The inscriptions also talks about the Yagnas that Nayanika performed and the donations she made for the Satvahana Empire. At one there were inscriptions serving as labels to the now absent statues of different people like Naganika and her husband.

The giant stone pot used for tax collection by Queen Nayanika.

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Inscriptions on the walls in Naneghat.

We spent some time in Naneghat taking in the panoramic views under the crescent moon before boarding the bus. This trip was surely a heady mix of heritage, history, information, and being transported for a brief moment, to the life that was, 2000 years ago!

The crescent moon for a beautiful end to a very interesting tour. 

Do follow the FB page of Heritage Insights for updates on their Heritage tours! I am certainly awaiting the next one!

Inside a Green World in Sullia

Walking through the plantation. 

A friend of ours had mentioned and described his home-town a few years ago. He said that their house sits on many acres of land bearing coconut, cocoa, arecanut plantations and paddy fields and there’s a river running across their land. This was enough for me to pester him to ‘invite’ us to his home soon!

Towering arecanut trees.

That day finally came in November last year. There was a wedding in the family and he said it would be an opportunity to meet everyone and sample traditional wedding food too! It seemed perfect.

We took an overnight bus to Mangalore and then another bus to Sullia, which is where his house is. Even as we entered the gate he pointed in different directions telling us where the rubber, arecanut and coconut plantations were. We were entering a green world where the only respite would be multiple hues of jade and emerald greens and the bright colours of beautiful flowers, fruits, birds and butterflies! I roamed amongst towering trees, ate food cooked with vegetables plucked from the farm, breathed the freshest air possible, feasted my eyes on verdant greens, adorned my hair with all kinds of flowers till my head looked like a bouquet, ate turmeric roots and stained my teeth with people giggling around, and came back refreshed, with a sense of warmth by being around people who have such a close relationship with the earth.  

Turmeric roots. I bit off a piece and realized that my teeth were stained yellow, when people giggled at me. 

Ginger root. 

What impressed me most is the entire family’s deep reverence and connection with the environment.  What we urban people would label as ‘eco-friendly’ is their natural way of life. This was evident especially during the wedding. Instead of buying cheap plastic decorations, all the festoons and decorations were made of flowers, leaves and arecanuts. Even on the main stage where the newly married couple were to greet people , the screens were made of intertwined coconut leaves. I watched the woman who was making these, and was impressed by her skill. Sadly, with readymade plastic decorations flooding the market, her ilk is rapidly shrinking and so is art also dying.

Coconut leaves for decoration.

The artisan weaving the leaves. 

Notice how the decoration is natural

I, too, joined a group of people to pluck arecanuts which was later strung together and wrapped around the pillars. And they looked so bright and colourful. A short lean man, with a bamboo pole around 30 feet long, with a sharp knife tied to one end, climbs the arecanut nut tree in a blink of an eye and starts precisely cutting the stem of bunches of arecanuts of the neighboring trees. Again he is back on the ground in a second and climbs another tree and repeats the process. I was left amazed by his dexterity, precision and swiftness.

A worker climbs an arecanut tree. 

Arecanuts wrapped around the pillar for decoration. 

An arecanut on my henna stained orange palm. 

For the wedding, all meals were served on banana leaves which is put into the compost and becomes manure for the plants. Nothing goes waste!

Banana leaves stacked for meals. 

Food being served in the main hall. 

We went around the farm and I was delighted to see cocoa trees for the first time. The friend climbed a tree swiftly and plucked a yellow, ripe cocoa pod, broke it by striking it against a stone and asked me to taste it. The inside of the cocoa pod looks nothing like the chocolate we eat. There are multiple seeds coated with sweet white flesh, much like custard apples, but only less sweet. I ate half a pod and scattered the seeds around, hoping more cocoa trees would sprout.

Cocoa trees with some ripe, yellow cocoa pods. 

Inside the cocoa pod.

We went to the river too, during sunset and it was so peaceful to see the sun lending a golden glow to everything around, the birds returning home and the silhouette of the coconut and arecanut trees in the background.

Sunset by the river.

We visited the paddy fields, where just two days earlier the paddy had been harvested. I missed that! We went and saw where the paddy was being stored.

Paddy husk. 

The paddy field recently harvested. 

The family is large with different family members taking care of different parts of the farm and fields. It was heartening to hear that many young boys in the family have left lucrative career options to take up agriculture, and are using innovative techniques to improvise farming and output. The entire farm is purely organic. Our friend’s father has himself brought about numerous innovations to organic farming and has received many awards for the same. Each house on the farm has a separate cow shed with two to four cows. So all the dairy products are fresh and homemade and we had copious amounts of ghee, buttermilk and curd.  The cow dung is used as manure for the plants and also for bio-gas. It’s a remarkably self-sustaining ecology created by the family.

Large lady's finger. They should be renamed giant's finger! 

New coconut shoots sprouting from dried coconuts. 

Brinjals grown outside the house. 

Drawing water from the well in the farm. The water tasted so sweet and refreshing. 

Pineapple. I love the tiny purple flowers on the plant. 

There is something unique about people who work so closely with the earth. I've noticed that time and again, during my travel and interaction with those who work with the soil. They are so down-to-earth, simple, grounded, with an inner knowing about the working of Nature and of life itself and my friend’s Father was no different with a serenity on his face that only an association with Nature can bestow.

Puran polis or sweet stuffed flat bread being prepared for the wedding. 

The place abounds in this tree, the leaves of which are used in making leaf plates or patravali. 

This post would be incomplete without a mention of food. The food was simple, delicate on spices and prepared from ingredients from the farm itself, and served on banana leaves. Eating from a banana leaf enhances the flavour of food, which was lip-smacking to say the least. I could get only these two pictures of the food, as the rest of the time I was, well, too busy eating!! 

Traditional breakfast of idlis, vada, sambaar, chutney and kesari bhath. 

Dosa and chutney. 

Three days were over earlier than expected and it was time for us to leave. But we promised to back soon, to relax and spend more time learning about crop cycles, the soil and Nature, with whom we are so disconnected with, in the city.

Bright hibiscus flowers. 

We stopped for a day at Mangalore before returning to Pune. Do read my post on what to eat in Mangalore..:-)