Junnar Caves : Tulja Caves in Junnar in Maharashtra

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Junnar Caves:

There are around 200 Buddhist caves in the hills of Junnar. The largest collection of caves at a single place in the whole of India. These caves belong to the Hinayana (Theravada) phase of Buddhism. They were built between 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD. The Junnar Caves are furthur divided on the hill ranges. The  Tulja Caves, The Shivneri Caves near the Shivneri Fort, The Manmodi Hills (comprising of Amba Ambika Caves, Bhimashankar Caves and Bhutalinga Caves) and Lenyadri Caves aka Ganesh Caves. 

Tulja Caves

After visiting the Gumbad and having a hearty lunch at Hotel Dilip, we decided to visit the Tulja Caves. It had now started drizzling, the weather was nice, due to poor lighting, I had to shoot my photos in HDR mode.

Tulja Caves

The route to Tulja Caves is tagged on Google Maps. We had to travel on a kacha (muddy path) to reach the base of the Tulja Caves. 

From there a series of step will lead you to the top. The steps are made of stone though not uniform. Due to the drizzle they had become extremely slippery. We still managed to reach the caves. 

Hill range around Tulja Caves

One of the caves is converted into a temple dedicated to Goddess TuljaBhawani. A couple of locals were sitting next to the temple. With a donation book. Thank God they didn't ask us for donations.

There is a Stupa behind the carved  pillar near the Tulja Bhawani Temple. The Stupa is decorated with graffiti. How dumb can some people be? It angers me to the core when they deface a national monument. 

Tulja Caves

There are a couple of caves here. Due to the drizzle and the water dripping from the hills, the floor had become extremely slippery. We decided not to venture further as it might turn hazardous to us. 

Again nothing much to see in these caves, they are not in good condition either. 

Stupa at Tulja Caves

We then headed down the slippery steps to the car.

Tulja Caves

It took us around 20 minutes each to climb up and down. Had the floor been dry it would have taken us around 30 minutes to explore it. 

Tulja Caves

Next pitstop was Shivneri Caves.

Junnar Caves : Bhimashankar Caves in Junnar in Maharashtra

Friday, October 14, 2016

Junnar Caves: Bhimashankar Caves 

There are around 200 Buddhist caves in the hills of Junnar. The largest collection of caves at a single place in the whole of India. These caves belong to the Hinayana (Theravada) phase of Buddhism. They were built between 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD. The Junnar Caves are furthur divided on the hill ranges. The  Tulja Caves, The Shivneri Caves near the Shivneri Fort, The Manmodi Hills (comprising of Amba Ambika Caves, Bhimashankar Caves and Bhutalinga Caves) and Lenyadri Caves aka Ganesh Caves. 

Bhimashankar Caves (Zoom in to see)

http://merwynsrucksack.blogspot.in/2016/10/junnar-caves-amba-ambika-caves-in.html

After exploring Amba Ambika and Bhutalinga Caves we alighted the hills and headed in the car to travel on the Junnar Vadaj Road in search of the Bhimashankar Caves.

We managed to locate the caves up the Manmodi  hills in a distance,  There were no signboards there. There were a couple of small path (Pai wat in marathi) not sure where they led too.

We asked a couple of locals, they advised us not to visit the caves as there are many beehives there, plus there is no path that leads to the top. The caves looks beautiful in a distance. Which made us fall for them. We still decided to take our chances and visit the caves via the wild vegetation. We climbed up, reached dead ends.

There came a point, where I found it extremely difficult to get down. The soil and the grip of my shoes gave in. My confidence went for a toss. Thanks to my friend Manohar,  who guided me with instructions, I made it to the base. As we couldn't make it to the caves we took snaps of the caves from a distance.

Our next pit stop was the Gumbad. Gumbad was not on our itinerary. We had located it from  Bhutalinga Caves. I have been to a couple of Gumbad's (tombs) when I was in Delhi. There is no information about the Gumbad on the internet. The priest at Amba Ambika Caves also informed us to visit it.

There are no hotels near the Manmodi Hills. So one has to carry food and water.