The Rock Chronicles

KANHERI CAVES STAND OFF THE HIGHWAY IN a suburb called Borivali to­wards the northern end of Mumbai. Enter the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and as the way winds, to the right on the banks of a stream you can see pillow lava, roundish rocks massed together, a rare memory of a volcanic eruption from some prehistoric past. The road veers upwards as the forest tries to swallow it from the ends, especially in the monsoon when the Sahyadri mountains turn so lusciously wooded it is as if an old balding man has sprouted wild hair. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, rises the face of Kanheri. Kanheri is a cave complex with over 100 of them. Most are small, once-residences of the monks, with carved ledges on the sides to sleep and underground cisterns to collect the rainwater harvested through a system of channels across from the mountain’s top. An exception to the general size is an imposing cave that greets you as soon as you arrive, a pillared apsidal hall with a stupa at one end where assemblies were held by the Buddhist monks who resided here.

Many of the caves have sculptures chipped into them representing the ico­nography of Buddhism. Outside cave No 3 there is a railing, and a figure in it is of a double-humped camel, and this is something of a mystery because India does not have this particular animal, nor did it even in the times when this cave was said to have been excavated somewhere around the 2nd century CE. To find these camels, you would have to go to Bactria, or what is present-day Afghani­stan. Even in a world without modern communication, you would, of course, eventually come to know of the existence of double-humped camels, but why would anyone feel it was important enough to create a sculpture of it unless it was in some way pertinent? The answer is that Kanheri was along an important trade route and also a pitstop for traders to make halts. The inscriptions here tell numerous stories of those among them who donated for various purposes, from making new caves to little items like the cisterns. There was deep interaction between trade and the monastic community. When someone was donating, he would expect the architect to introduce elements important to him, like the double-humped camel, which traversed this route carrying his trade goods.

KANHERI’S FIRST CAVE WAS EXCAVATED BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN era and the complex grew from then on and survived for over 1,500 years as a living entity. It witnessed numerous evolutions, from dynasties, technology, culture and religion. And also people from all over India and the world, like Xuanzang, that famous Chinese pilgrim who travelled across India in the 7th century CE. He also came to Kanheri and left an account. Kanheri’s epigraphy tells us what the past once contained. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) says on its website: “Of the numer­ous donor inscriptions found here mention of ancient cities like Suparaka (Sopara); Nasika (Nasik); Chemuli (Chemula); Kalyana (Kalyan); Dhenukakata (Dhanyakataka, modern Amara­vati in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh) are found. The donors were from all class of the so­ciety, from the members of the royal families to the commoners. The prominent among the royal families mentioned in the inscriptions are Gautamiputra Satakarni (c. 106-130 A.D.); Vasisthiputra Sri Pulumavi (c. 130-158 A.D.); Sri Yajna Satakarni (c. 172-201 A.D.); Madhariputra Sakasena (c. end of 3rd century A.D.); the rulers of Satavahana dynasty whose ancient capital was Pratishthana (modern Paithan, district Au­rangabad); Amoghavarsha of the Rashtrakuta dynasty dated in 853 A.D., etc.”

Go upwards on the hill and you come to cave No 90, richly replete with sculptures but it also has more. Somewhere around the 11th century CE, a few Parsis made a trip here all the way from Persia where their own religion had long gone into decline, and had someone local to make a Pahlavi inscription about them. Cen­turies later, a Japanese monk belonging to the Nichiren sect would also come and leave an in­scription in Japanese. On this small hill, people from distant countries left their traces. When we think of Mumbai, its history is imagined as beginning with the British after receiving a piece of land as a dowry that they built into a magnificent city with trade at its root. Mumbai was however umbilically tied with trade mil­lennia earlier. Farther northwards from Bori­vali on the western suburban railway line is a station called Nalla Sopara. It used to once be a major trading hub, the source from where Kan­heri drew its beginning and vitality, because ev­ery monastic community needs the patronage of lay people. Eastwards from Sopara is Kalyan, once a major river port, also a patron of Kanheri. Both crowded nondescript suburbs now.

About 15km southwards, in the suburb of Andheri, on the side of a road is another set of Bud­dhist caves, which are believed to be a satellite settlement of Kanheri. They are called Mahakali caves but these are a much smaller version. On a Friday morning, it is near-empty. Kanheri takes hours to navigate; Mahakali can be seen in quick time. Excavations of this mini-complex began a few centuries after Kanheri, just as the Christian era began. One of the caves has similarities in design to a Buddhist cave in the Barabar hills in Bihar, telling us about the common culture that tied the ends of the subcontinent.

Around the 6th century CE, political events upended this region. The Traituka dynasty fell and in their stead came the Kalachuris and that then made an impact on the caves of Mumbai because a sect was on the ascendant, the Pashupata Shaivites whom the new kings patronised. Now began the journey of another set of caves, this time excavated and lived in by ascetics who worshipped Shiva. The first to come up was a few kilometres from Mahakali caves in what is today the suburb of Jogeshwari, which draws its name from the Jogeshwari caves. Jogeshwari, also called Yogeshwari, is actually a female goddess who, perhaps because of increasing popularity, took over from Shiva as the main deity here. Pashupata Shaivism is said to have spread in the region because of a man called Lakulisha, who was originally from Gujarat. The Jogeshwari cave, unlike the Buddhist ones, has a different feel to it. It has massive pillars in a main hall carved out of the rock, and at the centre is a square stone shrine where the goddess is now worshipped. The feel here is more of a temple than a monastery of monks. A sense of grime and darkness permeates the place because no institution seems to be maintaining it. A line of devotees come in and rituals go on in separate places. As one enters the cave from its eastern side, a sculpture of Ganesha, painted deep red, leans out of the wall. Ganesh Chathurthi is one of Mumbai’s biggest festivals and this idol, which might be millennia old, tells us about his longstanding connection to the city. The central hall here has a parallel in the Elephanta Caves which are on an island called Gharapuri off the coast of Mum­bai. Elephanta was also a centre of the Pashupata Shaivites. Jogeshwari is older but Elephanta is grander and leaves a bigger footprint on the present because of the strategic location of the island. It was a port from ancient times and the British, too, used it for defence purposes. At present it is one of Mumbai’s major tourist attractions, reached by taking a ferry from the Gateway of India.

About 15km southwards, in the suburb of Andheri, on the side of a road is another set of Buddhist caves, which are believed to be a satellite settlement of Kanheri. They are called Mahakali Caves but these are a much smaller version

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From the Jogeshwari caves, in the direction opposite to Elephanta, again in Borivali, is a smaller version called Mandapeshwar caves, also by the same sect. It has a main hall where rituals were conducted and a couple of smaller chambers behind make it temple-like. It is not too far from Kanheri and also had a connection with traders, who stopped over to pray and make offerings. Mandapeshwar is small but it held outsized local influence. In fact, it would become contested territory when the Portuguese came to India as the colonial age began. They captured the island of Salsette, as this region was then known as. The Portuguese took over the Mandapeshwar caves and tried to remove all traces of its religion because they had a clearly defined Christian mission within their political ambitions. They tried to deface the faces of the deities and then realised that it involved too much work. At the entrance of the cave, there is a portion of a pillar where the main god has been effaced to create a cross but the gandharvas who flank it have been left untouched. And there was a reason for it: the Portuguese identified them with angels because of the similarities in their aerial form. Eventually, too spent to efface all traces of the religion they detested, they just walled off a portion of the cave that contained some of the big sculptures, and then turned the place into a church. The book Stories in Stone on the caves of Mumbai has this to say about the episode: “After the repeated failures of defacing, the Portuguese finally chose a different strategy to hide the caves or prevent ‘heretic practices’. In the 16th century, P Antonio de Porto founded an extensive monastic establishment and made this cave one of its components. King Don John III sponsored the transformation of the temple, which used to support 50 devotees, into a church and built an extensive mon­astery. The church was then built above the caves and dedicated to Notre Dame de la Misericorde.” Even now, when you walk up the mount from the side of the caves, you can see the ruins of the church there.

But then, a century-and-a-half later, another power, the Marathas, rose in the region. After a famous naval victory called the Battle of Bassein, they wrested control of the region. Now, the religious pendulum had swung back and the Marathas reverted the cave to its original temple form. In this small structure, an entire clash of civilisations can be accounted for. There are also other little nug­gets of the past for someone looking closely. In one small area on the floor, there are parallel lines crisscrossing each other and it is where people once gathered to play games of chance, perhaps gambling with dice on this board cre­ated into the stone.

Mumbai’s caves speak of an era when kings and merchants and monks and common people together led to a flourishing culture that meta­morphosed with time and we glean this from those that have survived to the present. There are also, however, many that remain mute. The earliest caves in the region are in a place called Jivdani in the locality of Virar. These were small utilitarian excavations whose purpose was just for monks to reside in, usually when the weather turned inclement as in the monsoon. Their form remains but there are very few vestiges there to inform us of what used to be. One of the caves now houses a Hindu goddess who has a large following that comes and worships here. From Jivdani’s bare structure to Kanheri and Elephan­ta’s magnificence is a long journey but, if they all teach us one lesson, then it is that the only true dictator is time.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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