DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0370
34S
CHAPTER III.
KANHERI CAVES.
The Island of Salsette, or Shatshashthi, at the head of the Bombay
harbour, is peculiarly rich in Rock-Temples, there being works of
this kind at Kanheri, Marol, Magathana, Mandapeswar, and Joges-
wari. The most extensive series is the group of Buddhist caves at
Kanheri, a few miles from Thana, in which are about 109 separate
caves, mostly small, however, and architecturally unimportant.
From their position, within easy access from Bombay and Bassein,
they early attracted attention, and were described by Portuguese
visitors in the 16th century,1 and by European voyagers and tra-
vellers like Linschoten, Fryer, Gremelli Careri, Anquetil, Du Perron,
Salt, and others.2
They are about six miles from Thana, and two north of the Tulsi
lake, recently formed to increase the water supply of Bombay,
and, as described by Mr. Fergusson,3 " are excavated in one large
bubble of a hill, situated in the midst of an immense tract of forest
country. Most of the hills in the neighbourhood are covered with
the jungle, but this one is nearly bare, its summit being formed by
one large rounded mass of compact rock, under which a softer
stratum has in many places been washed out by the rains, forming
1 Diogo dc Couto(1603), Da Asia Dec. vii., liv., iii., cap. 10 (Ed. Lisboa), tow. ««•
Translated in Jour. Bom. B. R. A Soc, vol. i. pp. 34-41.
2 J. H. Van Linscboten (1579), Discourse of Voyages, Book I., cb. xliv. p. 80;
Fryer (1673), New Account of East India and Persia, Let. ii. ch. ii. PP'72'' ,
Gemelli Careri (1693), Voyage (Fr. ed. 1727), torn. ii. pp. 51-75; A. Du Perron, W
Avesta, Prel. Disc, cccxciv., ccccxiii., ccccxix.: Hunter in Archceologia, vol. H
299-302; S. Lethieullier, ib., pp. 333-336 : H. Macneil, ib., vol. vm. PP- ia\'
... -97. Wilson
Salt, Trans. Bom. Lit. Soc, vol. i. pp. 46-52 : Frskiue, ib., vol. ui. p. oxi,
Journ. Bom. B. R. A. Soc, vol. iii. pt. ii. pp. 39-41 ; Stevenson, ib., vol. iv. PP-
131 ; vol. v. pp. I ff.; West, ib., vol. vi. pp. 1-14, 116-120, 157-160; maaV®''n'.
vol. viii. pp. 227 ff. ; Bird, Jour. A. 8. Beng., vol. x. p. 94 ; ttstor. Res., PP- * * ('
Hamilton's Desc of Hindustan, vol. ii. p. 171 ; Heber's «7ottr«a/*;-Fergusson, J-
Soc, vol. viii.
3 Rock-cut Temples, p. 34.
CHAPTER III.
KANHERI CAVES.
The Island of Salsette, or Shatshashthi, at the head of the Bombay
harbour, is peculiarly rich in Rock-Temples, there being works of
this kind at Kanheri, Marol, Magathana, Mandapeswar, and Joges-
wari. The most extensive series is the group of Buddhist caves at
Kanheri, a few miles from Thana, in which are about 109 separate
caves, mostly small, however, and architecturally unimportant.
From their position, within easy access from Bombay and Bassein,
they early attracted attention, and were described by Portuguese
visitors in the 16th century,1 and by European voyagers and tra-
vellers like Linschoten, Fryer, Gremelli Careri, Anquetil, Du Perron,
Salt, and others.2
They are about six miles from Thana, and two north of the Tulsi
lake, recently formed to increase the water supply of Bombay,
and, as described by Mr. Fergusson,3 " are excavated in one large
bubble of a hill, situated in the midst of an immense tract of forest
country. Most of the hills in the neighbourhood are covered with
the jungle, but this one is nearly bare, its summit being formed by
one large rounded mass of compact rock, under which a softer
stratum has in many places been washed out by the rains, forming
1 Diogo dc Couto(1603), Da Asia Dec. vii., liv., iii., cap. 10 (Ed. Lisboa), tow. ««•
Translated in Jour. Bom. B. R. A Soc, vol. i. pp. 34-41.
2 J. H. Van Linscboten (1579), Discourse of Voyages, Book I., cb. xliv. p. 80;
Fryer (1673), New Account of East India and Persia, Let. ii. ch. ii. PP'72'' ,
Gemelli Careri (1693), Voyage (Fr. ed. 1727), torn. ii. pp. 51-75; A. Du Perron, W
Avesta, Prel. Disc, cccxciv., ccccxiii., ccccxix.: Hunter in Archceologia, vol. H
299-302; S. Lethieullier, ib., pp. 333-336 : H. Macneil, ib., vol. vm. PP- ia\'
... -97. Wilson
Salt, Trans. Bom. Lit. Soc, vol. i. pp. 46-52 : Frskiue, ib., vol. ui. p. oxi,
Journ. Bom. B. R. A. Soc, vol. iii. pt. ii. pp. 39-41 ; Stevenson, ib., vol. iv. PP-
131 ; vol. v. pp. I ff.; West, ib., vol. vi. pp. 1-14, 116-120, 157-160; maaV®''n'.
vol. viii. pp. 227 ff. ; Bird, Jour. A. 8. Beng., vol. x. p. 94 ; ttstor. Res., PP- * * ('
Hamilton's Desc of Hindustan, vol. ii. p. 171 ; Heber's «7ottr«a/*;-Fergusson, J-
Soc, vol. viii.
3 Rock-cut Temples, p. 34.