Kanheri Caves – Mumbai Attractions

Situated in the pristine surroundings of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the Kanheri Caves is an amalgamation of adventurous pleasure and religious travails. Located around 40 kms from the city of Mumbai, in Borivali, the Kanheri Caves have been existent since the 1st century. Carved sometime between the first and the ninth century, the beautiful sculptures, magnificent reliefs and exquisitely carved pillars make up the cave structure.

One can easily reach this place by taxi, buses or by taking a train to the Borivali station. Walk through the zigzag paths inside the Sanjay Gandhi National park and you would reach a flight of stairs that takes you to these intriguing and interesting caves here in this part of India. Amidst the best of surroundings, the aura here is something to be felt to be believed. Very reminiscent of the rock cut caves that exist in India, these caves are believed to have been the seat of the Buddhist monks. In fact, there is proof that Buddhist monks lived here between the 1st and the 9th century. The caves look resplendent in spite of their simple look and partially adorned beauty.

Kanheri comes from the Sanskrit term Krishnagiri which means black in colour. These caves have been carved out of a single basalt rock. The Kanheri caves are a great example of the way the religion of Buddhism has risen and fallen. The caves are actually small cells which have been carved out of a single block of stone and there is a platform made of stone which was maybe used as a bed. Then there is a congregation hall which is seen even today and there are pillars which support it.

Most of the caves are actually monasteries of the past which have been used for meditation, study and also for living. Most of the caves have beautifully carved structures and have lovely memories of past life which has existed here greatly. There are rock cut stupas which were earlier places of worship. The Avalokiteshwara idol here holds everyone’s attention and is a great masterpiece of the past. There are more than a thousand inscriptions found here and these have been written in the Pallavi, Devanagari and Brahmi scripts. There is a defaced Chaitya cave which has some woodwork on its roof. This woodwork is destroyed and defaced today.

The Mauryan and the Kushan dynasties ruled over this region centuries back and Kanheri was the seat of education in those days. There was in fact a university here and it was a flourishing region then. There are many watercourses here that are proof to the existence of a well organized water system. The Kanheri caves is a place where monks used to practice their austerities and they were a source of education, knowledge and awareness. The Elephanta caves has a lot of extravaganza but the Kanheri caves is a living example of a Spartan and bare kind of cultural edifice of the past. There are many vihara like structures that are seen and that are proof to the existence of a congregation of monks here in the past. In fact there is also enough proof by way of inscriptions to show that there were trade relations between Kalyan, Sopara, Ujjain, Paithan, Nasik and Kanheri.