Kanheri cave complex

Why in news?

• Kanheri cave complex is one of the most important historical monuments of western India.

About Kanheri cave complex:

• Kanheri was the home of a large Buddhist community for over a thousand years.
• The earliest recorded structures in the complex date to the second century CE, while textual records attest to the continued use of the caves as late as the 12th century.
• These caves are like large resorts, with a multitude of caves in the form of small rock villas built for the use of monks and lay practitioners.
• One can witness religious styles ranging from early Theravada through early and mature Mahayana, and also the beginnings of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Epigraphs:

• These refers to many royal houses, including the Satavahana kings of the second century CE, all the way to the ninth-century Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha and his local feudatory, Kapardin II of the Silhara dynasty.

Add ons:

• Nearly all caves in Kanheri consist of a large rectangular hall with a recessed room at its head.
• This is where a large Buddha image is usually found, seated either in the dhyana mudra (meditative posture) in the seated pralamba-padasana pose, and flanked by two Bodhisattvas

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Rock cut architecture of Kanheri cave is largely associated with:

(a) Jainism

(b) Buddhism

(c) Ajivikas

(d) Vaishnavism

Answer