BHAJA CAVES
18.716700,73.583300
Description
Several (note 1) man-made rock chambers (note 2) at Bhaja (–>Bhaja Cave) near Lonavla (Lonavale, Lonauli) are thought to date from around 200 BC (LONELY PLANET, India 1997: 841; 1999: 892; 2001: 754; 2005: 746). SMITH, G 1882: 276): »The Bhaja Caves are on the … S. side of the Lanoli (Lenavali = "grove of the caves") railway station. The Bedsa Caves are on the S. side of the hills, in which Bhaja is.« CULTURAL HISTORY: There is no cult of the mother goddess Yamai at the caves of Bhaja because the little village moved from a site on the slope to the lowlands in about 1910 (KOSAMBI, D D 1960c: 136). At the current state of exploitation, the site is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India on a racist basis. Admission (in 2001) was US Dollars 5 (IRs 230) for foreigners only but mere IRs 5 for people with an Indian look to them. LITHOLOGY: SARKAR et al (2002: 793) discovered in »one of the abandoned caves at Bhaja … a partially consolidated, brownish-grey, parallel-laminated clayey sequence having a thickness of around 1 m and lateral extent of more than 4 m is found to occur between two massive, amygdaloidal basalt flows. Hand specimen reveals compact, fine, clay-rich laminations alternating with coarse granule, sandy and silty layers. The upper portions of the parallel-laminated, clayey sequence exhibit highly compressed, baked, undulating, broken and distorted laminations due to the heat and overloading pressure of the younger lava flows. The top of this clayey sequence also exhibits the development of mud cracks. The occurrence of highlyfragmented carbonized remains of plant material is commonly observed. Microscopic examination of the thin section shows a dominant mode of dark coloured, fine-grained clayey matter. Within this clayey matter, rounded to well-rounded detrital fragments of basalt are frequently observed. In addition, altered mineral grains of olivine, pyroxene and magnetite and the occurrence of secondary minerals like zeolites are also observed. Vitric materials, which are relics of volcanic glass, are commonly seen as rounded to sub-rounded yellowish-brown, altered fragments. At places, relatively fresh, vesicular, rounded fragments of glass shards (black in colour) are also observed. These characteristics clearly suggest the occurrence of an intertrappean horizon at one of the abandoned caves at Bhaja.«
NOTE 1: There are five (LAW 1976) or eighteen (LONELY PLANET 1981, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1997: 841; 1999: 892; 2001: 754; LONELY PLANET, South India 2001: 203) rock temples, including 10 viharas and one chaitya. NOTE 2: SARKAR, YENGKHOM & MOGHE (2002) describe the occurrence of intertrappean beds in an abandoned cave at Bhaja.
Documents
Bibliography 23/03/2016- Basham, A L 1954, 1963, 1967, 1981, 1985, 1997; Burgess, James & Fergusson, James 1880, 1988; Hill Station Holidays 2001; Imperial Gazetteer 1907-1909; Indien Handbuch 1984, 1994, 1998; Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand 1960b, 1960c; Law, Bimala Churn 1976; Lonely Planet, India 1981, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001; Lonely Planet South India 2001; Newar, Supriya 2002; Sarkar P K, Yengkhom, K S & Moghe, K A 2002; Smith, George 1882; Ward, Philip 1991, 1992; Watson, J W 1884; Westergaard, Nils L 1844.
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1844: Nils L WESTERGAARD (1844) mentioned »Bajah« near »Karli.«
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | BEDSA CAVES | ||
| 14.2 | SHELARVADI CAVES | ||
| 14.3 | KARLA (Cave at) | ||
| 17.9 | BHAJA CAVE | ||
| 17.9 | LONAVLA UNDERGROUND | ||
| 17.9 | TUNNEL, Lonavla (Sarkar et al. 1998) (aa -) | ||
| 17.9 | KANHUR PATHAR CAVE | ||
| 17.9 | BHAMCHANDAR CAVES | ||
| 22.3 | KONDANE CAVES |