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About Kanheri Caves :

One of the airiest places in the city, the Kanheri Caves premises offers a pleasant break from the pollution and the noisy, metropolitan life. Nestled in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali, the Kanheri Caves are also known as the 'lungs of Mumbai', because this is the only place in the city with the maximum amount of greenery and consequently, a lot of fresh air. The caves date back to 1st century BC and are believed to be one of the oldest cave formations of the country. The Kanheri Caves are renowned for their natural Basalt formations, ancient Indian styled architecture and the 109 special entrances to the caves. The word Kanheri originates from the Sanskrit term 'Krishnagiri'. Each cave here, unlike the other caves in the country, is adorned with a 'splinth' or a rock bed. Congregation halls with large stupas also indicate that the caves were Buddhist shrines and a focal point during the Buddhist settlement in the 3rd century. The Kanheri Caves became a distinctive Buddhist institution for congregational worship, study and meditation.

History of Kanheri Caves

The origin of the caves is from the first century BCE to the ninth century BCE. A Hundred and nine caves have been carved in the basalt rocks. A stone plinth adorns each cave as a bed. These caves are very different when compared to the elegant nearby Elephanta caves. The Buddhist shrine known as stupa is founded in the congregation hall which has huge stone pillars. As you go up the hills, there are remains of ancient canals, cisterns and water systems. These collected and channeled the harvested rainwater into huge reservoirs.As the caves became Buddhist monasteries intricate carvings of Buddha and bodhisattvas were made in the cave walls. It was a crucial Buddhist monastery in the konkan coastal region in the third century AD.

Getting to Kanheri Caves