KARLA (Cave at)
18.783300,73.466700
Description
Entry is as steep (note 1) as the walk up (20 minutes / 0.5 km along the path) to the man-made Hinayana Buddhist 'chaitya' (cave temple hall), a solitary rock-cut chamber (40 m long, 15 m high, completed in 80 BC) excavated from massive Deccan Trap basalts to be used for religious purposes (note 2). ETYMOLOGY: incomplete. So far, I saw this rock temple referred to as Höhlen von Carli BERTUCH, John F. (1792) Höhlentempel von Carli HAECKEL, E (1882 edited 1922: 19) Karla Cave LONELY PLANET, India (2005: 746); SARKAR, FRIEDMANN & KARMALKAR (1998) caves near Karla SMITH, G (1882: 276) caves near Karle DUTT, S (1962: 140); SMITH, G (1882: 276) caves near Karlen SMITH, G (1882: 276) Karlie Caves William J. Johnson, circa 1858 photograph in: POHLMANN & SIEGERT (2001: 235). SITUATION (note 3): Between Bombay (125 km) and Pune (Poona, 50 km or 60 km) in the Bor Ghat (note 4), 11 km from the Lonavla (Lanoli, Lenavali, Lonauli, Lonavala, Lonavale) railway station, and 4 km along the road SSE from the village centre of Karle. SITUATION 1882a: Halfway up on the western flank of a trachyte hill rising more than 300 m above Lonavla. The latter lies already at the height of the Deccan table land: »… in halber Höhe am westlichen Abhange eines Trachytberges, der sich noch mehr als tausend Fuß über das Plateau von Lanaulie erhebt. Letzteres liegt bereits auf der Höhe des Tafellandes von Dekkan« (HAECKEL, E 1882 edited 1922: 19). SITUATION 1882b: »Karla, or Karlen, village on Bombay and Poona road, near which are the famous Karle Caves … near the head of the Bor Ghat (1798 ft.), the pass 40 m. [64 km] from Bombay and Poona, once the key to the Dekhan, now ascended by the railway. Karlé, which has the largest and finest chaitya in India, is near Lanoli (Lenavali = "grove of the caves") railway station« (SMITH, G 1882: 276). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1882: »Die buddhistischen Höhlentempel von Carli sind weit größer und älter als die brahmanischen Tempelgrotten auf Elephanta. Auch sind die Skulpturen einfacher und weniger schnörkelhaft, die Figuren der Menschen und Tiere natürlicher. … Gleich den Tempeln von Elephanta und vielen ähnlichen in Indien sind auch diejenigen von Carli durch Aushöhlung aus dem Felsen des Gebirges selbst heraugeschnitten, ebenso wie die Skulpturen von Menschen und Tieren [note 5], welche in großer Zahl die Wände zieren. Der stattliche Hauptraum des Tschaitya-Tempels von Carli, ein riesiges Tonnengewölbe, wird durch zwei Säulenreihen in ein breites Hauptschiff und schmale Nebenschiffe geteilt. Die zahlreichen Figuren von männlichen und weiblichen Gestalten, von Elephanten, Löwen usw., sowie die Säulen und Türpfosten sind sehr kunstreich aus dem harten schwarzen Trappfelsen ausgemeißelt und glatt poliert. … Oberhalb des Haupttempels und zu beiden Seiten desselben (in 777 m Meereshöhe) sind kleine Räume ausgemeißelt, aus denen wir große Schwärme von Fledermäusen aufscheuchten« ( (HAECKEL, E 1882 edited 1922: 19-20). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1962: »… les grottes de Karla … se composent d'une gigantesque nef souterraine dont les voûtes sont rnforcées d'une charpente de bois, avec tout autour des chambres plus ou moins vastes, creusées dans le roc, et destinées à l'habitat des moins bouddhiques« (BROSSET, A 1962a: 206). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1962: »The finest, loveliest and most exquisitely artistic cetiya-ghara [chaitya] among all the lenas of eastern India is the one at Karle« (DUTT, S 1962: 140). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1995: »… when the family had gone for an outing to see the two-thousand-year-old Buddhist cave-temples at Lonavla, he [Abraham Zogoiby] clutched gasping at his heart half-way up the steep stairway cut into the hillside that led to the dark mouth of the biggest cave …« (RUSHDIE, Salman 1995: The Moor's Last Sigh.- Jonathan Cape: London, part 2: Malabar Masala, chapter 9). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2005: »Karla Cave … [is] the largest Early Buddhist chaitya in India. Completed in 80 BC, the chaitya is around 40 m long and 15 m high, and was carved by monks and artisans from the rock inimitation of more familiar wooden architecture. A semicircular 'sun window' filters light in towards the cave's representation of the Buddha – a dagoba, or stupa, protected by a carved wooden umbrella. The cave's roof is ribbed with teak beams said to be original. The 37 pillars forming the aisles are topped by kneeling elephants. The carved elephant heads on the sides of the vestibule once had ivory tusks. Near the cave is a small Hindu temple [note 6], the prime draw for the pilgrims you'll meet on your climb up« (LONELY PLANET, India 2005: 746). SPELEOTHEMS: SARKAR, FRIEDMANN & KARMALKAR (1998) reported calcium carbonate (calcite) speleothems (stalactites 0.5 to 1.5 mm long and 0.5 to 0.9 cm in diameter; stalagmites of approximately 15 cm) »found as whitish-colored matter along fractures and joint planes on the roof« (ceilings) inside unspecified »ancient caves and tunnels excavated within the thick massive flows of the Deccan-Trap basalts« at sampling sites called »K.C. = Karla Caves, T = Tunnel, K.P. = Kanhur Pathar.« ICONOGRAPHY: "Die Höhlen von Carli" in BERTUCH, John F. (1792). "Cave of Karli" (1835) drawn by G. Cattermole, sketched by Capt. R. Elliot, engraved by J. Bishop. William J. Johnson (circa 1858 in: POHLMANN & SIEGERT 2001: 235) took a photograph (held by Dietmar Siegert) of musicians in front of the »Karlie Caves.« CAVE LIFE - bats (Chiroptera): Ernst HAECKEL (1882 edited 1922: 20), accompanied by unmentionable guides and servants, disturbed on 20th November 1881 large colonies of unspecified bats in small, man-made rock chambers adjacent to and above the chaitya at »Carli« (Karla). BROSSET, A (1962c: 606 table) reports one or two specimens of Rhinolophus luctus beddomei Anderson 1905 were seen on each visit (September, August, May, December) by the Jesuit brother A. Navarro in 1938-1945, by Humayun Abdulali in December 1948) and »myself in 1959-61.«
NOTE 1: Its IRs 5 for races with an Indian look to them and the earlier US Dollars 10 (LONELY PLANET, South India 2001: 2002) or US Dollars 5 (IRs 230) (LONELY PLANET, India 2001) for foreigners came down to US $2 or about IRs 80 to 100 (LONELY PLANET, India 2003: 771, 2005: 746, 2009: 845).NOTE 2: STEPHENSON (1834: 495-499) gives translations of some inscriptions and TARN (1938 edited 1951 revised 1984 revised 1997) discusses aspects of the »yavana« (Greek people) mentioned. NOTE 3: Karli Cave is positioned near N18°47': E073°28' (nima.mil/geonames accessed 16.11.2003) but the village of Karle (Karla) near N18°45': E073°29' (Everest 1830, IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909) and as Karla, Karli and Varula also at N18°45': E073°29' (nima.mil/geonames accessed 16.11.2003). NOTE 4: Borghat (Bhore Ghat, Bhor Ghat, N18°46': E073°22'), "ghat" (pass) named after the »bor, a thorny tree producing a fruit like a small plum, Zizyphus jujuba« (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 25: vii) or »ber, a thorny shrub bearing a small fruit like a plum, Botanically: Zizyphus jujuba« (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 25: vi). NOTE 5: Ernst Haeckel, an arch-darwinistic, even rassist researcher of pelagic fauna and gifted describer of forests and flora, saw at the rock temple near Carli rock art (sculptures) depicting humans and animals. It was beyond his reach to recognise sculpture representing goddesses and gods. NOTE 6: The »primitive« (tribal) mother goddess Yamai, locally named Amba-bai and Veher-ai (Mother at the Vihara), has a relief image in the shrine just at the Chaitya entrance and is the traditional family goddess of Bombay Koli fishermen, who come all the way to make their vows, pay her worship, and dedicate their children (KOSAMBI 1960b: 135-136; 1991: 140, 160, 184-185).
Documents
Bibliography 30/03/2016- Badin, Adolphe 1867, 1870, 1876; Barrett, Douglas Eric 1957a; Basham, A L 1954, 1963, 1967, 1981, 1985, 1997; Bertuch, John F 1792; Blavatsky, Helene Petrovna [pseudonym Radda Bai 1879-1882, 1883-1886], 1892 edited 1899, 1908, 1918, 1934, 1950, 1975, etc.; Brosset, André 1962a, 1962b, 1962c; Burgess, James 1881; Burgess, James & Fergusson, James 1880 edited 1988; Cave of Karli 1835; Davenport Adams 1886; Deville, Louis 1860; Dutt, Sukumar 1962; Felsentempel in Indien 1865; Fergusson, James 1876, 1899; Fitzclarence, George Augustus Frederick 1819a; Greenwood, P H 1976; Haeckel, Ernst 1882, 1922; Hamilton, Walter 1828; Hartwig, Georg [George] 1871a, 1871b, 1871c, 1888; Hill Station Holidays 2001; Imperial Gazetteer 1907-1909, 15: 44-47; Indien Handbuch 1984, 1994, 1998; Johnson, William J, circa 1858 (in: Pohlmann, Ulrich & Siegert, Dietmar 2001); Kaul, S N 1969; Knox, William 1974; Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand 1956, 1960b, 1962, 1975, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1998; Kusch, Heinrich 1993; Law, Bimala Churn 1937 edited 1976; Lonely Planet, India 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009; Lonely Planet, South India 2001; Mackenzie, Simon P M 1982; Marzolla, Giorgio 1975; Menon, A G K 1987; Mode, H 1979; Newar, Supriya 2002; Pohlmann, Ulrich & Siegert, Dietmar 2001; Possehl, G L 1988; Rau, H 1987; Rushdie, Salman 1995; Sarkar P, Friedmann Gerald M & Karmalkar N 1998; Sato S 1985; Saglio, Camille (in Badin, Adolphe 1867, 1870, 1876); Schlagintweit, Emil 1980; Smith, George 1882; Stephenson J 1834; Tarn, William Woodthorpe 1938 edited 1951 revised by Holt, Frank Lee 1984 revised by Holt, Frenk Lee & Miller, M C J 1997; Ward, Philip 1991, 1992; Wanchope, Robert S 1933, 1981, 1989.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.4 | BHAJA CAVE | ||
| 6.4 | LONAVLA UNDERGROUND | ||
| 6.4 | TUNNEL, Lonavla (Sarkar et al. 1998) (aa -) | ||
| 6.4 | KANHUR PATHAR CAVE | ||
| 7.9 | KONDANE CAVES | ||
| 10.7 | KHANDALA RAILWAY TUNNEL | ||
| 10.7 | LOHOGAD CAVES | ||
| 10.7 | KHANDALA SUBTERRANEAN PALACE | ||
| 10.7 | KHANDALA PIPE TUNNEL |