Karla Caves
Karle Caves · Karla Chaitya · Ekveera Temple Caves
Hinayana Buddhist, Satavahana period 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE·Buddhist (Theravada) merchants and Satavahana dynasty·🇮🇳 Maharashtra, India
Kevin Standage (kevinstandage1@googlemail.com) INDIAN TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY · CC BY-SA 2.0
About
About Karla Caves
Largest Hinayana Buddhist chaitya (prayer hall) in India: 45 m long, 14 m high vaulted hall (c.120 BCE–125 CE) with 15 rock-cut pillars, teak-wood ribs still original, and massive horseshoe arch facade. Part of hill-grotto complex along ancient Deccan-Gujarat trade route, associated with Ekvira Devi shrine.
Why it mattersMost accomplished early Buddhist rock-cut architecture; timber-imitating vault canonical model for Ajanta chaityas
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Source of timber ribs - imported teak persistence 2000 years
- 02Relation to adjacent Bhaja and Bedse caves sequencing
Theories
- 01Trade-route patronage by guilds (shrenis) theory
- 02Evolution from wooden architecture petrified in rock
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.120 BCE–125 CE (Great Chaitya); earlier viharas 160 BCE
- Period
- Hinayana Buddhist, Satavahana period 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE
- Culture
- Buddhist (Theravada) merchants and Satavahana dynasty
- Purpose
- Monastic retreat and trade-route shrine for merchants on Bor Ghat pass
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.120 BCE
Earliest vihara excavation
c. 100 CE
Great Chaitya completed under Nahapana inscription
5th c. CE
Last Buddhist occupation
On the ground
Structures & features
18.7830° N · 73.4718° E · 720 m · 3 mapped features
Great Chaitya Hall (Cave 8)
chaitya45 m vaulted hall with stupa, pillars and original timber ribs
18.7829° N · 73.4717° EVihara Cluster
viharaMonks' cells and assembly halls
18.7831° N · 73.4720° EEkvira Devi Temple
shrineLater Hindu shrine intruding on facade
18.7827° N · 73.4715° E
Gallery