As I walk through past..

A sculpture of four lions facing in different directions

 A travelogue, no an experience I would call it. An experience as i walk through the walls of past. A past of human civilization as old as second century B.C. On my birthday this year I decided Karla and Bhaje caves as my destination. Why, even I don’t know the reasons. It was a purely instinctive decision that I followed.

The sculpture at the entrance at karla caves.

 I reserved a cottage at the MTDC resort in Karla. This is 6 kilometres away from the famous hill station Lonavla in Maharashtra.  The first day we just relaxed at the cottage enjoying the silence of nature that surrounded us. The green and blue clad mountains, cloudy skies and occasional showers along with the hustling of trees in this small hamlet designed the sweetest symphony of nature. The cottage was a beautiful place with two rooms, spacious with an open verandah and high ceiling house like those old ones we hardly see in cities. How would we actually?? Every builder wants to get more floors and thus house more flats in same FSI. What an irony, our flats are really getting flat as they can. The resort also has a beautiful water park. The entry for in house guests is some 300INR and 500 for visitors. I just had a sneak peek at it. It was interesting and yes, it’s on my list to visit. So on day one was all about staying back relaxing, guzzling down some cold beer and trying out some desi chicken in variant styles. In afternoon I sank into their white clad cozy luxurious bed. Wow!! I exclaimed at the sundown after an afternoon tag lined rest and taste. The evening we spent driving to the Tiger point and watching sun drown down dancing to a melody of warm colours. An experience only to be captured by your eyes and no other lens. It went from chrome yellow to orange, from orange to pink, crimson and the last was red. I felt like witnessing one of the finest designer’s fashion shows of warm colours. The nature was painting its very own portrait it seemed. We had some corn pakoda and chai sitting there watching the whole drama performed. We slept pretty early after watching a T.V show as we had to conserve energy for the next action packed day.

The sculpture at the entrance

The next day we had a good breakfast and started for our trip to Karla. It’s on your left hand side on the road to Kamshet. You will see a complex on top of a hill. That’s the place; take a left from the main road. It is like a small ghat and you reach a parking lot. We parked there and started climbing the steps. it is 20 minutes route to the top. The Karla caves are a complex of ancient Indian Buddhist rock cut cave shrines developed over two periods from the second century B.C to the second century A.D. and the other from the fifth century A.D to the tenth century A.D. Today, the cave complex is a protected monument under the archaeological survey of India. The Buddhists were associated with commerce and manufacturing since very early times. Hence they had built their monasteries nearing the famous trade routes. The caves lie near a major ancient trade route, running eastward from Arabian Sea into Deccan. The location where it is placed marks a division between northern and southern India.  The Karla caves are built on a rocky hillside in the Sahyadri, the western ghats of Maharashtra.  There are three caves, one of which is closed due to landslide. The first cave has a big Chaityagraha, a prayer hall magnificent in architecture and sight to awe at. The hall has tall pillars on both sides with symmetrical sculptures on both sides. The perfection achieved is beyond expectations. It’s a different level of art which is finished with immense perfection. It is so close to be identified as a magician’s creation. The pictures will elaborate the reason I am so taken. The entrance to this magnificent hall has sculptures of elephants. They are huge and beautifully chipped rocks, sturdy to match the valour of a true elephant. Again, the entrance exhibits symmetry. But, it was disappointing to see the damage; the trunks of some sculpted elephants were broken. This had happened during the Peshwa era.

The chaityagraha at Karla caves

Ekvira aai- goddess of the fishermen tribe "koli"

To create is god; to destruct is so much human. Centuries of hard work built this extravagantly beautiful cave. It just took one day to bring it down. The one’s who brought it down could have also added more to the beauty of the place rather than making it ugly. Next to this cave is the temple of Ekvira aai. She is the goddess of fishermen. The temple of the swayambhu ( self manifested) goddess. The idol of the goddess is beautiful. Have a look in the picture. It’s a very small temple. When we walked out of the temple to the left, we stopped by another cave. This one housed the vihar (places to live in). The people who sculpted this hill stayed here. The cave has a huge entrance to let the sunlight reach the interiors. When you speak in this cave; the sound reverberates almost more than eight times. Imagine the Buddhist chanting here.  It would create such a powerfully absorbing environment. The third cave was closed. It is into the mountains with windows carved out to let the sunlight lighten up the place. The caves made me wonder, how basic were the needs of human then, a place to pray, food to eat and water to quench thirst and an occupation. But for us, Life is little complicated. We started descending after that, heading towards the car to drive to Bhaja caves which are hardly 15 minutes.

The Chaityagraha at Bhaja

 We crossed the Malavli station to reach here. I can say the place is designed similarly. You get a view of the astounding Vissapur fort and Lohagad fort from this place. The steps are easy to climb and the climb is hardly 15 to 20 minutes again. It’s a very comfortable climb with the steps constructed recently. There are some fourteen stupas (holy shrines) in the place which are worshipped by the Buddhist visitors. The place is full of historic sculptures from the era of the ruler Asoka. I have uploaded pictures of the same. There is a waterfall next to the caves. The locals say that the waterfall provided water to the people who stayed here throughout the year for all purposes. Descending down we planned to race. No doubt, I won it. The next day we were supposed to drive back and reach our respective workplaces. Yeah, I also wanted to tell you that the caves close down after 5 pm so make sure you reach before that.

A view through a vihar (a place to stay)

The sculpture at bhaje caves

The stupas at Bhaje caves

The sculpture at bhaje caves

A chariot from old times carved on the walls at Bhaje caves

The day we were driving back, I thought “As you move ahead in life, you should leave behind something extraordinary that generations after you should remember you for. To do something constructive or destructive is a personal look out. For a reason when Brahma has created the earth and Vishnu maintains but Mahesh will always be there as a destroyer and this design of nature will never change. I think that’s how the universe balances its equation. Also understand what you feel is constructive won’t be the same for someone else’s view and things are vice versa.” Back to the hustle bustle ...city lights

As I walked through past,

Realised nothing would last.

Then throughout the life why we crave,

To earn more than what destiny gave.

You make your destiny I say,

Then why in front of him we pray.

Answers to these questions are never to be found

To this complicated life we are always bound

 

Cheers!!!!

Anaddict