The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s5.4

c7.s5.4

In the small island of Sálsette in the neighbourhood of Bombay, which is about eighteen miles long with an average breadth of ten miles, there are five groups of caves; at Kanheri, Kondivte, Jogeshvari, Mandapeshvar, and Mágáthan.¹ In the island of Ghárápuri are the well-known caves of Elephanta. In the neighbouring island of Karanja are also some small caves. In the Thána district north of Sálsette there are small caves at Jambrug, Kondáne, and Chandansár. In the Kolába district are the caves of Pál near Mahád and the large series of Kuda. In the Ratnágiri district there are caves at Chiplun, Khed, Dábhol, Sangameshvar, Gavháne-Velgaum, and Váde-Pádel. By far the greater part of these are small and apparently of no significance, having neither sculpture nor inscriptions, and may properly be called hermit's cells, generally two or three together. The caves of Elephanta have been so often and so thoroughly described² that they need no further mention here, for they are in no respect so remarkable as those of Kanheri which until Elura and Ajanta became so easily accessible were among the chief objects of interest on this side of India. Of them Bishop Heber wrote: "They are in every way remarkable from their number, their beautiful situation, their elaborate carving, and their marked connection with Buddh and his religion." Even to those who have visited Elura and Ajanta there are points of interest at Kanheri which the others want. "The excavations in Sálsette, especially those at Kanheri, are probably the most perfect specimens in India of a genuine Buddhist temple, college, and monastery. The great temple is not equal in beauty to that of Kárle in Poona but it exceeds that called Vishvakarma at Elura, and every other on this side of India."¹ "It is not only the numerous caves that give an idea of what the population of this barren rock must have been, but the tanks the terraces and the flights of steps which lead from one place to another."² The caves of Kanheri indeed are not a mere series of temples and halls without any trace of the existence of the worshippers who should have filled them, but the excavations include arrangements such as were required for a resident community. There are here in close proximity several vihárs or monasteries for associations of devotees, a great number of solitary cells or grihás for hermits, with shálás or halls for lectures and meetings, and chaityas or temples with relic-shrines not out of proportion in number or size to the dwelling-places. Outside the caves are reservoirs for water, a separate one for each cell, and couches or benches for the monks to recline on, carved out of the rock like everything else, while flights of steps and paths worn in the rock lead like streets from one series of caves to another; for the excavations are not only at different elevations in the face of the same hill, but also in several different hills and ravines. Here