Among the earliest rock-cut monuments are those of Bhaja, near Lonavla, where time and weather have decayed the original woodwork of the facade, widening it into a great open archway? Bhaja is very obviously a translation of wooden architecture and craft into a more durable material: stone. The simple curve of the horseshoe arch suggests that this distinctive feature was still at a very early stage in its formation. The sloping pillars in the main cave and the sculptures in one of the viharas (monasteries) are fascinating features.
Less easy to reach are the Bedsa Caves nearby, which you can get to by a short trek and a narrow passage, cut though the rock. Rising from a jar into shafts stopped by bell-shaped capitals, the pillars in the cave are remarkable for their design and execution. Persepolitan in origin and obviously derived from Asoka by their resemblance to the monoliths of that monarch, the pillars and their capitals are executed with exceptional vivacity and freedom. Belonging to the Hinayana or little vehicle period, Bedsa has retained its ancient character.
But it was at Kerala, near Lonavla, that this type of architecture reached its most impressive culmination. Designed on a magnificent scale, that Great Chaitya cave is considered to be the greatest them all. Elegant and majestic, yet simple and
Solemn, it is the largest of the kind in India. The stupa (mound covering a Buddhist relic) is a plain dome, as at Bedsa. Amazingly, the wooden beams on the ceiling have remained intact for 2000 years and here at Kerala we can study the carpenter’s art as it was twenty centuries ago. A rare phenomenon indeed!
Junnar and Kondane are amongst the many scenically beautiful spots where over a thousand rock-cut temples are located. Recent discoveries of caves at Panhale in Rantnagiri district in the heart of the Western Chats amidst picturesque surroundings again prove that the builders of yore had a great feeling for environmental beauty.
The art of Western India is also in its ancient handicrafts and terracotta figures. At Ter, near Osmanabad, has been found one of the earliest ivory carvings of India, a figure of a woman dating back to A.D. first century, which speaks highly of the skill of the Satavahanas who ruled from their capital at Paithan. Roman antiquates found at Ter are evidence of the trade carried on with the west through the ports of Thane, Kalyan and Soapara. Ter is also a temple over the Samadhi of the saint Gora Kumbhar.