Hi good day!
How was the weekend ? We Celebrated it ! ;). Part of our office team decided to visit the Kanheri caves at Borivali after lunch on Saturday. It was a thrilling & satisfying trip. Enjoyed it a lot even though we got as much as 2hours to enjoy the place. Planning for a full day trip & visit all the caves there. Had last visited on a school picnic.
The best way to get there: 1) Reach Borivali station. 2) Take a bus to Sanjay Gandhi national park or Just walk, its just straight road of 5mins. 3) At the park, pay the entrance fee. 4) There is an hourly bus service which takes you to the top on the mountain to the caves. Remember: The last bus is at 5:30pm & the caves entrance shuts down at 5pm.
The Park too has many interesting places to visit. According to the map while waiting for the bus we saw that there is a Waterfall, a tiger safari, a leopard safari & on the way to the caves saw lot of streams. Read more interesting stuff about the park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Gandhi_National_Park
They say there are 109 caves at Kanheri. We saw only half a dozen, the starting ones & played around in the gushing stream which looks planned to store water at certain points. Could see lot of water tanks around the stream & caves. There was beautiful, clean, cool climate & no rains so was more enjoyable. Had a bad cold the previous day but once I reached the caves was feeling much much better(clean, unpolluted air) but got back the cold once we reached home :(.
Check the photos at the end of this post.
Facts about the Caves:
The Kanheri Caves are located north of Borivli on the western outskirts of Mumbai, India, deep within the green forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Kanheri Caves are signs of Buddhist influence on art and culture in India. Kanheri comes from the Sanskrit word Krishnagiri generally meaning black in colour.They were chiseled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.
These caves date from 1st century BCE to 9th century CE The earliest are 109 tiny rock-cut cells, carved into the side of a hill. Unlike the elegant splendor of Elephanta Caves nearby, these are spartan and unadorned. Farther up the hill are the remains of an ancient water system, canals and cisterns that collected and channeled the rainwater into huge tanks.Most of the caves are the Buddhist viharas meant for living, study, and meditation. Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanheri_Caves
How did the monks chisel & break the rocks to get them into such awesome shapes !
These kind of carvings were everywhere.
There were 2 such mammoth idols on both ends of the hall entrance. We looked tiny in front of them.
Lovely carvings! Sadly not taken care of since the beginning & many were defaced.
God check out the height of this hall. This is a stupa.
The gushing stream which I mentioned. It was in full force. As you see there were steps of stones & boulders in and around with water tank kind of things on the sides + meditation cells or viharas. Would love to sit for a meditation session here :)
The stream gushed down the mountain.
If you havent been here, do visit this awesome spot in Mumbai ! Also start early & you will have fun & entertainment packed day.
After an exciting weekend, more enthu about a exciting working week ahead ;)
Bye.Tc. Have a Gr8 week ahead !
How was the weekend ? We Celebrated it ! ;). Part of our office team decided to visit the Kanheri caves at Borivali after lunch on Saturday. It was a thrilling & satisfying trip. Enjoyed it a lot even though we got as much as 2hours to enjoy the place. Planning for a full day trip & visit all the caves there. Had last visited on a school picnic.
The best way to get there: 1) Reach Borivali station. 2) Take a bus to Sanjay Gandhi national park or Just walk, its just straight road of 5mins. 3) At the park, pay the entrance fee. 4) There is an hourly bus service which takes you to the top on the mountain to the caves. Remember: The last bus is at 5:30pm & the caves entrance shuts down at 5pm.
The Park too has many interesting places to visit. According to the map while waiting for the bus we saw that there is a Waterfall, a tiger safari, a leopard safari & on the way to the caves saw lot of streams. Read more interesting stuff about the park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Gandhi_National_Park
They say there are 109 caves at Kanheri. We saw only half a dozen, the starting ones & played around in the gushing stream which looks planned to store water at certain points. Could see lot of water tanks around the stream & caves. There was beautiful, clean, cool climate & no rains so was more enjoyable. Had a bad cold the previous day but once I reached the caves was feeling much much better(clean, unpolluted air) but got back the cold once we reached home :(.
Check the photos at the end of this post.
Facts about the Caves:
The Kanheri Caves are located north of Borivli on the western outskirts of Mumbai, India, deep within the green forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Kanheri Caves are signs of Buddhist influence on art and culture in India. Kanheri comes from the Sanskrit word Krishnagiri generally meaning black in colour.They were chiseled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.
These caves date from 1st century BCE to 9th century CE The earliest are 109 tiny rock-cut cells, carved into the side of a hill. Unlike the elegant splendor of Elephanta Caves nearby, these are spartan and unadorned. Farther up the hill are the remains of an ancient water system, canals and cisterns that collected and channeled the rainwater into huge tanks.Most of the caves are the Buddhist viharas meant for living, study, and meditation. Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanheri_Caves
How did the monks chisel & break the rocks to get them into such awesome shapes !
This must be one of the prayer halls, coz it was huge & had a stupa.
These kind of carvings were everywhere.
There were 2 such mammoth idols on both ends of the hall entrance. We looked tiny in front of them.
Lovely carvings! Sadly not taken care of since the beginning & many were defaced.
God check out the height of this hall. This is a stupa.
The gushing stream which I mentioned. It was in full force. As you see there were steps of stones & boulders in and around with water tank kind of things on the sides + meditation cells or viharas. Would love to sit for a meditation session here :)
The stream gushed down the mountain.If you havent been here, do visit this awesome spot in Mumbai ! Also start early & you will have fun & entertainment packed day.
After an exciting weekend, more enthu about a exciting working week ahead ;)
Bye.Tc. Have a Gr8 week ahead !
Comments
India I am must is a country of beauty..
Diana Travel baby
Exactly my opinion about old architectures. I love visiting caves & old forts for the same reason. The dedication, effort, concentration to get the best out piece of hard rock is truly worthy of praise.
Thanks for the comment. Bye.tc
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Hi, Let me know your Take on this.
P.S. Dont be Evil, lets play fair :)