Kanheri Caves /कान्हेरी गुहा, Mumbai, Maharashtra State /महाराष्ट्र, India. Part – 4, Cave No 67.

The visit to Kanheri Rock Cut Cave No. 67, of Mumbai, was part of “Rock Cut Cave Temples of Maharashtra Visit”, from 28th Feb February to 3rd March 2026.

The largest and one of the earliest Buddhist cave complexes in India is located at Kanheri, which lies on the eastern side of Borivali in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. The name Kanheri has been derived from Kanhagiri in Prakrit, as mentioned in the Nasik inscription of Satvahana king Vashathiputra Pulumavi. In Sanskrit, it is known as Krishnagiri, meaning dark Hills like the colour of Krishna. Kanheri was frequently mentioned in the travelogues of foreign travellers. It is a unique Buddhist monastic establishment which sheds light on different phases of the development of cave architecture from the 2nd century CE to the 11th century CE. The various Buddhist sects were coeval and flourished at Kanheri, like the Mahasamghikas, Chetiyas, and Parasellyas. Bhadravaniya. Dharmottariyas, Saddharmapundarika sect in Vajrayana Buddhism. The site reflects a beautiful blend of art and architecture of the Hinayana and Mahayana sects of Buddhism, with enormous epigraphical data of their respective contemporary period.

There are more than 110 caves, hewed out of volcanic breccia (rock composed of broken fragments of minerals), considered as a single rock. These caves spread over half a kilometre in length, hewn on different terrace on either side of a seasonal rivulet. These caves are of two types: chaitya and viharas. The chaitya consists of a sanctum, verandah and outer courtyard approached through a flight of steps with flanking water cisterns on either side. The water cisterns are chiselled in the rock, so that the direct rainwater is channelled into these cisterns. This gives evidence of an ancient rainwater harvesting system. The viharas are architecturally monotypic but variable in size with one or multiple cells, a verandah with two or more pillars in front, and an open courtyard with rock-cut benches along the walls.

  

The cave numbers 3, 11, 34, 41, 67, 87 and 90 are most important and are incepted eloquently with pillars, grilled walls and images. In the early Hinayana caves, Buddha is symbolised in the form of a stupa, a bodhi tree and footprints, while in later caves of the Mahayana period, Buddha is displayed in different postures like dharmachakrapravartana mudra, vyakhyanmudra, varada mudras, etc. The other important images carved in the caves are Avalokiteshvara, Dipankara Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Muchalinda Naga, etc. An excellent example of the only sculpture in India of the eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, excavated outside cave number 41.

There are more than 100 inscriptions in the caves revealing the names of donors and patrons of the caves, which show monks. Goldsmiths, traders and many political and administrative officials had given donations to caves, cisterns, tanks, staircases, benches, niches, pillars, paths and walls at Kanheri. The Shaka inscriptions indicate the Scy thian or Shaka rule over Mumbai and its coastal regions.  

Cave 67

This cave is popularly known as Chitrashala, as it is full of different sculptures related to the life of Buddha. Different aspects of Buddha, known as miraculous shrauasti, are conceived in those sculptures. A similar pattern is shown in the varandah on the western side, as shown in the Ajanta paintings.

This large vihara is profusely ornamented with sculptured panels, having a square hall, a verandah and an open courtyard in the front. The main hall has two cells on each side (left and right). The interior walls are profusely carved with sculptural panels depicting Buddha in various mudras, seated or standing in postures. Similarly, the walls of the verandah are also decorated with sculptures, which include mainly Buddha in pralamba-padasana, dharmachakra pravartana-mudra, Manushi Buddhas and Maitreya (the future Buddha). It has an ornamental façade with four octagonal pillars and a flight of steps in the centre, decorated with a vedica motif. Stylistically, the cave is dated 6th-7th century CE.

DIPANKAR JATAKA :

Megha or Sumegha, a young ascetic, came to the city of Paduma at the time when Dipankar Buddha was expected, wishing to make an offering of flowers to him. He found none were procurable as the king had ordered all to be reserved for his own offerings. Seeing a dark-clad girl named Bhadra concealing a seven-stalked Utapala flower (i.e. blue Lotus) in her pitcher, he attempted to purchase five of the stalks for 500 pieces of money, the price the girl had paid for the whole. The girl finally agreed to the bargain, with a further condition that he should offer the other two flowers on her behalf, and then in the successive life, he would take her for his wife. However, if he arrived at Buddhahood, he should permit her to follow him as a disciple. This being agreed to, he proceeded to meet Dipankara, who was entering the city. The flowers offered to him by the king and his followers formed a canopy over his head. Megha threw the seven stalks of Utapala towards the Buddhas, and in accordance with his desire, they remained in mid-air, crowning the canopy, and moving as he moved. Megha, being repulsed by the crowd who were spreading their garments in the city, Dipankara formed a muddy place in front of them, on which the ascetic immediately placed his deer-skin garment and, undoing his hair, spread it over the skin for Buddha to pass over, who then granted his secret that he should become Sakyamuni. This is also found later on the monastery walls of Kabul. Some Buddha figures resemble that of Samatha.

LOCATION OF THE CAVES: CLICK HERE

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---

Kanheri Caves /कान्हेरी गुहा, Mumbai, Maharashtra State /महाराष्ट्र, India. Part – 3, Cave No 41.

The visit to Kanheri Rock Cut Cave No. 41, of Mumbai, was part of “Rock Cut Cave Temples of Maharashtra Visit”, from 28th February to 3rd March 2026.

The largest and one of the earliest Buddhist cave complexes in India is located at Kanheri, which lies on the eastern side of Borivali in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. The name Kanheri has been derived from Kanhagiri in Prakrit, as mentioned in the Nasik inscription of Satvahana king Vashathiputra Pulumavi. In Sanskrit, it is known as Krishnagiri, meaning dark Hills like the colour of Krishna. Kanheri was frequently mentioned in the travelogues of foreign travellers. It is a unique Buddhist monastic establishment which sheds light on different phases of the development of cave architecture from the 2nd century CE to the 11th century CE. The various Buddhist sects were coeval and flourished at Kanheri, like the Mahasamghikas, Chetiyas, and Parasellyas. Bhadravaniya. Dharmottariyas, Saddharmapundarika sect in Vajrayana Buddhism. The site reflects a beautiful blend of art and architecture of the Hinayana and Mahayana sects of Buddhism, with enormous epigraphical data of their respective contemporary period.

There are more than 110 caves, hewed out of volcanic breccia (rock composed of broken fragments of minerals), considered as a single rock. These caves spread over half a kilometre in length, hewn on different terrace on either side of a seasonal rivulet. These caves are of two types, chaitya and viharas. The chaitya consists of a sanctum, verandah and outer courtyard approached through a flight of steps with flanking water cisterns on either side. The water cisterns are chiselled in the rock, so that the direct rainwater is channelled into these cisterns. This gives evidence of an ancient rainwater harvesting system. The viharas are architecturally monotypic but variable in size with one or multiple cells, a verandah with two or more pillars in front, and an open courtyard with rock-cut benches along the walls.  

The cave numbers 3, 11, 34, 41, 67, 87 and 90 are most important and are incepted eloquently with pillars, grilled walls and images. In the early Hinayana caves, Buddha is symbolised in the form of a stupa, a bodhi tree and footprints, while in the later caves of the Mahayana period, Buddha is displayed in different postures like dharmachakrapravartana mudra, vyakhyanmudra, varada mudras, etc. The other important images carved in the caves are Avalokiteshvara, Dipankara Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Muchalinda Naga, etc. An excellent example of the only sculpture in India of the eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, excavated outside the cave 41.

There are more than 100 inscriptions in the caves revealing the names of donors and patrons of the caves, which show monks. Goldsmiths, traders and many political and administrative officials had given donations to caves, cisterns, tanks, staircases, benches, niches, pillars, paths and walls at Kanheri. The Shaka inscriptions indicate the Scy thian or Shaka rule over Mumbai and its coastal regions. An inscription near cave 41 records that Punnaka from Sopara has constructed a dam with two walls to block the rainwater from getting wasted.

Cave No. 41

The cave is very dark with limited light passing through the entrance. The walls bear the sculptural panels depicting the Buddhism of the Hinayana sect. The speciality of the sculpture panel is the eleven-headed Padmapani Avalokiteshwara, shown here with the Buddhist Litany. Avalokiteshwara, as a Mahasatva, is described as having a thousand arms, a thousand pairs of eyes and eleven heads. He descends into the city of death and delivers all souls from damnation. He is also known as Ekadashamukha. Even the hands of this image are exactly similar to the description in the eighth century.

This was known to be the only sculpture of an eleven-headed Avalokiteśvara in India, but later on, another was discovered in bronze, which bears a great resemblance to a Nepalese Sculpture.

LOCATION OF KANHERI CAVES: CLICK HERE

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---

Kanheri Caves /कान्हेरी गुहा, Mumbai, Maharashtra State /महाराष्ट्र, India. Part – 2, Cave Nos 11 and 34.

The visit to Kanheri Rock Cut Cave Nos. 11 and 34, of Mumbai, was part of “Rock Cut Cave Temples of Maharashtra Visit”, from 28th Feb February to 3rd March 2026.

The largest and one of the earliest Buddhist cave complexes in India is located at Kanheri, which lies on the eastern side of Borivali in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. The name Kanheri has been derived from Kanhagiri in Prakrit, as mentioned in the Nasik inscription of Satvahana king Vashathiputra Pulumavi. In Sanskrit, it is known as Krishnagiri, meaning dark Hills like the colour of Krishna. Kanheri was frequently mentioned in the travelogues of foreign travellers. It is a unique Buddhist monastic establishment which sheds light on different phases of the development of cave architecture from the 2nd century CE to the 11th  century CE. The various Buddhist sects were coeval and flourished at Kanheri, like the Mahasamghikas, Chetiyas, and Parasellyas. Bhadravaniya. Dharmottariyas, Saddharmapundarika sect in Vajrayana Buddhism. The site reflects a beautiful blend of art and architecture of the Hinayana and Mahayana sects of Buddhism, with enormous epigraphical data of their respective contemporary period.

There are more than 110 caves, hewed out of volcanic breccia (rock composed of broken fragments of minerals), considered as a single rock. These caves spread over half a kilometre in length, hewn on different terrace on either side of a seasonal rivulet. These caves are of two types: chaitya and viharas. The chaitya consists of a sanctum, verandah and outer courtyard approached through a flight of steps with flanking water cisterns on either side. The water cisterns are chiselled in the rock, so that the direct rainwater is channelled into these cisterns. This gives evidence of an ancient rainwater harvesting system. The viharas are architecturally monotypic but variable in size with one or multiple cells, a verandah with two or more pillars in front, and an open courtyard with rock-cut benches along the walls.  

The cave numbers 3, 11, 34, 41, 67, 87 and 90 are most important and are incepted eloquently with pillars, grilled walls and images. In the early Hinayana caves, Buddha is symbolised in the form of a stupa, a bodhi tree and footprints, while in the later caves of the Mahayana period, Buddha is displayed in different postures like the dharmachakrapravartana mudra, vyakhyanmudra, varada mudras, etc. The other important images carved in the caves are Avalokiteshvara, Dipankara Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Muchalinda Naga, etc. An excellent example of the only sculpture in India of the eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara, excavated outside cave number 41.

There are more than 100 inscriptions in the caves revealing the names of donors and patrons of the caves, which show monks. Goldsmiths, traders and many political and administrative officials had given donations to caves, cisterns, tanks, staircases, benches, niches, pillars, paths and walls at Kanheri. The Shaka inscriptions indicate the Scy thian or Shaka rule over Mumbai and its coastal regions. An inscription near cave 41 records that Punnaka from Sopara has constructed a dam with two walls to block the rainwater from getting wasted.

CAVE No. 11

This cave is hewn for a Darbar/monastery/ vihara, and one of the largest monasteries (vihara) of Kanheri Caves, where Buddhist monks meet. With a veranda supported by eight square/octagonal pillars. The Hall contains 12 cells in total, 9 on the back wall and 3 on the left wall. The interior hewed like a large hall and could accommodate nearly 500 monks, but with only two stone platforms running lengthwise, to accommodate almost 100 monks.

On the right image is Padmapani

CAVE No. 11, INSCRIPTION

A Brahmi inscription engraved over the right cistern records that during the reign of the Shilahara king Kapardin II (850-880 CE), Gomin Avighnakara, a great devotee of Buddha (Sugata) from Gauda (present Bengal), gave a permanent endowment (akshaynivi) of a hundred dramas for the excavation of a meditation chamber and for the clothes of bhikshus staying at the 'Moharaja Mahaviha. Krishsepti (Kanheri). Tha inscription preserves the most important piece of history as it mentions the name of Slillahara Tullashakti, whom Kapardin II succeeded. The epigraph also throws light on the economic activities of "i.e., Buddhist monasteries.

Cave 34

This cave is located on the southern face of a hillock, comprising a shrine, vestibule, square maridapa, a pillared verandah, an open forecourt and a water cistern on the right. The shrine has a plain doorway, flanked by large standing figures of Buddha in varada-mudra, and two more figures of Buddha are carved in the side walls of the vestibule. A flight of steps with side balustrades arranged to access the verandah, which has two rock-cut benches with recesses on either side.

 

Of all the caves of Kanheri, this is the only cave where traces of paintings in the ceiling of the vestibule depicting the outline of Buddha belong to the phase of the post-Vakataka era.

LOCATION OF KANHERI CAVES: CLICK HERE

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---