Karla Caves

The Karla Caves, Karli Caves, Karle Caves or Karla Cells, are a complex of ancient Buddhist Indian rock-cut caves at Karli near Lonavala, Maharashtra. It is just 10.9 Kilometers away from Lonavala. Other caves in the area are Bhaja Caves, Patan Buddhist Cave, Bedse Caves and Nasik Caves.

The shrines were developed over the period from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE. The oldest of the cave shrines is believed to date back to 160 BCE, having arisen near a major ancient trade route, running eastward from the Arabian Sea into the Deccan.

The group at Karla is one of the older and smaller of the many rock-cut Buddhist sites in Maharashtra. It is one of the best-known because of the famous "Grand Chaitya" (Cave 8), the largest and most completely preserved chaitya hall of the period, containing unusual quantities of fine sculpture on a large scale.

Many traders, Western Satraps of Saka origin and Satavahana rulers made grants for construction and support of these caves. Karla's location in Maharashtra places it in a region that marks the division between North India and South India. Buddhists, having become identified with commerce and manufacturing through their early association with traders, tended to locate their monastic establishments in natural geographic formations close to major trade routes so as to provide lodging houses for travelling traders. Today, the cave complex is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India.

Affiliation

The caves were historically associated with the Mahāsāṃghika sect of Buddhism which had great popularity in this region of India, as well as wealthy patronage. The caves house a Buddhist monastery dating back to the 2nd century BC. The monastery was once home to two 15-meter grand pillars outside the chaitya. Now only one of these remains, and the remaining space is occupied by a temple dedicated to the goddess Ekveera, who is worshipped most notably by the Aagri and Koli community of Mumbai.

Architecture

thumb|Path to the Karla Caves.

The Karla cave complex is built into a rocky hillside around from Pune, with large windows cut into the rock to light the cave interiors. The caves are among a large numbers of similar caves excavated in the Sahyadri Hills in the early 1st millennium CE. There are altogether 16 caves in the group, with 3 of them being Mahayana caves. Most of the caves are lenas, with the major exception being the Great Chaitya, Cave No. 8. Numerous donors, mainly local merchants, several of them Yavanas (Greeks), as well as numerous Buddhist monks and nuns, provided donations for the construction of the chaitya cave, as recorded by their dedicatory inscriptions. An inscription among the sculpted decorations at the left end of the veranda mentions the completion of "this stone mansion" by a local merchant or banker (a "setthi") named Bhutapala, from Vaijayanti, but this may only refer to the completion of the ornate sculptures of the veranda.

Upon completion, an inscription mentioning the Western Satraps ruler Nahapana was placed next to the central gate, reporting the dedication of a village to the monks of the Karla chaitya by Nahapana's son-in-law Ushavadata. But neither Nahapana nor Ushavadata are directly mentioned as having created or completed the Karla chaitya itself, although Ushavadata is otherwise known to have built and dedicated a cave with similar design characteristics not far away: Nasik Cave No. 10.

About a generation after Nahapana, the Satavahana ruler Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE) also left a dedicatory inscription on the other side of the central gate.

Numerous decorative panels representing the Buddha with attendants were later added to the veranda during the Mahayana period, and have been dated to the 6th century CE. It is thought that the chronology of these early Chaitya Caves is as follows: first Cave 9 at Kondivite Caves, then Cave 12 at the Bhaja Caves and Cave 10 of Ajanta Caves, around the 1st century BCE. Then, in chronological order: Cave 3 at Pitalkhora, Cave 1 at Kondana Caves, Cave 9 at Ajanta, which, with its more ornate designs, may have been built about a century later,

R. C. Majumdar quoting James Fergusson explains:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;" align="center" colspan="2" cellpadding="3" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%;"

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|align=center colspan=2 style="background:#D3D3D3; font-size: 100%;"| Great Chaitya Cave at Karla The larger pairs of figures with Mithuna couples, however, are earlier and may be original. The later inscriptions are of the time of the Satavahana king Pulumavi.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">

File:KarlaCavesStatue1.JPG|Extreme left panel with Mithuna couple

File:KarlaCavesStatue2.JPG|Entrance, left panel with Mithuna couples, and central Mahayana-period panel.

File:Karla Amit R Mahadik 05.jpg|Entrance, right panel with Mithuna couples, and central Mahayana-period panel.

File:Karla capital relief.jpg|Pillar carvings (8th pillar, right row). Inscription: "(This) pillar (is) the pious gift of the lay worshiper Dhamula of Gonekaka".

Karla caves row of capitals.jpg|Row of capitals.

Karla caves capitals.jpg|Structure of a capital.

Karla caves capital.jpg|Complete capital.

Karla caves capital detail.jpg|Capital detail.

Karla caves capital sculptures.jpg|Capital detail

Karla Caves - Stupa.jpg|Stupa

</gallery>

|}

Main inscriptions

;Bhutapala

An inscription on the left wall of the veranda, over the line of facing elephants and under the scultpture of a multi-storied building, mentions the completion of the "rock mansion" by a setthi (merchant) from Vaijayanti (Banavasi) named Bhutapala:

The "completion" of the "rock-mansion" mentioned by Bhutapala may only refer to the ornate sculptures of the veranda, specifically to the multi-storied mansion sculpted on top of the inscription, rather than the cave as a whole, since the various components of the Karla caves generally bear inscriptions by their individual donators. Below: detail of the word "Ya-va-na-sa" in old Brahmi script: 12px12px12px12px.]]

There are also inscriptions by private donors, who contributed parts of the Great Chaitya, including self-described Yavana (Asiatic Greek or Indo-Greek) donors, who donated six of the pillars, although their names are Buddhist names. They account for nearly half of the known dedicatory inscriptions on the pillars of the Chaitya.

• 3rd pillar of the left row:

:"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Sihadhaya from Dhenukataka"

• 4th pillar of the left row:

:"Of Dhamma, a Yavana from Dhenukakata"

• 9th pillar of the left row:

:"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Yasavadhana from Denukakata"

• 15th pillar of the right row:

:"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Chulayakha from Dhenukakata". Next to the inscription is a Buddhist Swastika.

The city of Dhenukakata is thought to be Danahu near the city of Karli.

The Yavanas are also known for their donation of a complete cave at the Nasik Caves (cave No.17), and for their donations with inscriptions at the Junnar caves.

;Nahapana

An important dedicatory inscription relates to Nahapana on the lintel to the right of the entrance of the Great Chaitya (Valurak is thought to be an ancient name for Karla Caves):

;Sri Pulumayi

On the lintel to the left of the main entrance to the Great Chaitya, facing the inscription of Nahapana and posterior to it by a generation, there is also an inscription by Satavahana ruler Sri Pulumayi, that is, Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE):