Buddhist site : The Pitalkhora Caves

Pitalkhora

 

• The Pitalkhora Caves, in the Satamala range of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India, are an early Buddhist site consisting of 14 rock-cut cave monuments which date back to the third century BCE, making them one of the earliest examples of rock-cut architecture in India.
• The cliff has fallen away dramatically since antiquity, and most of the carvings that existed on the face of the cliff fell with it.
• Because of its remoteness, Pitalkhora has few visitors.
• The caves are cut in a variety of basalt rock which weathers quickly, so many of them have crumbled and are badly damaged.
• Out of the 14, four are chaityas (one housing votive stupas, one apsidal and single-cell) and the rest are viharas.
• All the caves belong to the Hinayana period, but the paintings are of the Mahayana period.
• The caves are in two groups, one of 10 caves and the second of four.
• It is believed that Pitalkhora can be identified with Ptolemy’s "Petrigala" as well as the "Pitangalya" of Mahamayuri, a Buddhist chronicle. The inscriptions date from c. 250 BCE to the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.