Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c7.s4: Borivli
Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c7.s4
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Borivli
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The oldest remains of a structural building in this part of the country, and, perhaps, coeval with the latest cave-temples of Kanheri in the neighbourhood, are sundry carved stones of one or more Buddhist temples scattered through the fields between the railway station of Borivli and the caves themselves. The site of one building is on a knoll about a mile east by south from the station. Lying about upon it are some small stone dāgobas, whole and in fragments, with remains of brickwork and signs of platforms. These were, probably, votive dāgobas, such as are found near the large tank on the top of Chitorgarh in Rājputānā and other Buddhist sites. They are found cut in the rock at the Bhājā caves in one big group. A slight surface clearing on the spot yielded nothing more than a solitary drilled red cornelian bead, like many of those found in such numbers upon the old site of Brāhmanābād in Sind.¹ About a quarter of a mile further on, is a small temple connected with the hamlet of Devi-ka-Pārā, beside which is the site of some Buddhist building or stūpa. In the centre was a well-laid brick platform, while, around it, on all four sides, ran one or more walls, of which the traces of foundations and some of the masonry remain. There was not sufficient left from which to form any opinion as to what the building was. A few carved stones lie about with Buddhist symbols upon them, showing that a substantial building of some sort once existed here. The bottom portion of a square stone receptacle was unearthed from the debris, which had the appearance of part of a relic box similar to the Kolhāpur one in the museum of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. There are other sites, like the first, hidden away in the jungle in this locality, no doubt once connected with the great Buddhist settlement at the Kaṇheri caves.
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¹ Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1903-4, pl. XLIX.
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FIG. 17.—Image of Brāhmā at Sopārā.
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At a short distance to the north-west of Borivli railway station, in a field, is a group of seven curious memorial stones, which, on account of their close resemblance to similar stones found in the Kanarese country, have been already described in a previous volume on Chālukyan Architecture.¹ They were probably set up during the time of the Śilāhāras of the Northern Koṅkaṇ; and, judging from the sculptures on them, they commemorated the deaths of heroes who fell in some action carried out upon land and sea. Some of the stones shew the land battle, in which elephants, protected with coats of mail, took part, while others depict the lines of vessels, propelled with banks of oars like the old Roman *biremes*, both in their advance upon the enemy and the melée itself. (Plate XV.)
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¹ *The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts.*
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There is such an action recorded. We are told that the Yādava king, Mahādeva, led his forces against those of the Śilāhāra king of Thāṇa, Somēśvara, and, according to the account of Hemadri, completely subdued him. Mahādeva invaded the Koṅkaṇ with an army consisting of a large number of elephants. Somēśvara was defeated upon land and is said to have then betaken himself to his ships. There somehow he met with his death, probably by drowning, for it is said that even the sea did not protect him, and that he betook himself to the submarine fire, thinking the fire of Mahādeva's to be more unbearable. The Koṅkaṇ was thereupon annexed by the Yādavas.²
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² *Bombay Gazetteer*, Vol. I, Part II, 246.