Karla Caves

Architecture

The Karla cave complex is built into a rocky hillside around 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Pune, with large windows cut into the rock to light the cave interiors. The caves are among a large numbers of similar caves excavated in the Sahyadri Hills in the early 1st millennium CE. There are altogether 16 caves in the group, with 3 of them being Mahayana caves. Most of the caves are lenas, with the major exception being the Great Chaitya, Cave No. 8.

Great Chaitya cave

The main cave, called the Great Chaitya cave, or Cave No. 8, features a large, intricately carved chaitya within a prayer hall, dating back to 50-70 CE. This is the largest rock-cut chaitya in India, measuring 45 metres (148 ft) long and up to 14 metres (46 ft) high. The hall features sculptures of both males and females, as well as animals such as lions and elephants.

Patrons

This Great Chaitya cave, the largest in South Asia, was probably constructed between 50 and 70 CE according to the paleography of the various donatory inscriptions. Numerous donors, mainly local merchants, several of them Yavanas (Greeks), as well as numerous Buddhist monks and nuns, provided donations for the construction of the chaitya cave, as recorded by their dedicatory inscriptions. An inscription among the sculpted decorations at the left end of the veranda mentions the completion of "this stone mansion" by a local merchant or banker (a "setthi") named Bhutapala, from Vaijayanti, but this may only refer to the completion of the ornate sculptures of the veranda.

Upon completion, an inscription mentioning the Western Satraps ruler Nahapana was placed next to the central gate, reporting the dedication of a village to the monks of the Karla chaitya by Nahapana's son-in-law Ushavadata. But neither Nahapana nor Ushavadata are directly mentioned as having created or completed the Karla chaitya itself, although Ushavadata is otherwise known to have built and dedicated a cave with similar design characteristics not far away: Nasik Cave No. 10.

About a generation after Nahapana, the Satavahana ruler Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE) also left a dedicatory inscription on the other side of the central gate.

Numerous decorative panels representing the Buddha with attendants were later added to the veranda during the Mahayana period, and have been dated to the 6th century CE.

Comparative chronology

The Great Chaitya cave of Karla follows, but improves upon, several other Chaitya caves which had been built in Western India under royal sponsorship. It is thought that the chronology of these early Chaitya Caves is as follows: first Cave 9 at Kondivite Caves, then Cave 12 at the Bhaja Caves and Cave 10 of Ajanta Caves, around the 1st century BCE. Then, in chronological order: Cave 3 at Pitalkhora, Cave 1 at Kondana Caves, Cave 9 at Ajanta, which, with its more ornate designs, may have been built about a century later, Cave 18 at Nasik Caves, and Cave 7 at Bedse Caves, to finally culminate with the "final perfection" of the Great Chaitya at Karla Caves.

Characteristics

The chaitya follows the usual pattern for the period, but is unusually large. It is exceptional for preserving original elements in wood: the prominent lateral ribs and other roof timbers, and the umbrella over the stupa. The chaitya hall only survives in rock-cut examples, but these replicate in stone the form of examples in wood and thatch. In most rock-cut chaityas, the roof timbers are replicated in stone, to considerable visual effect, but in others actual timber was used, for purely aesthetic rather than structural reasons. In most of these cases the timber has long decayed away, as for example in the chaitya at Cave 3, Kanheri Caves. Here, although some were replaced under Lord Curzon in the 19th century, most are original.

R. C. Majumdar quoting James Fergusson explains:

"It resembles an early Christian church in its arrangement; consisting of a nave and side-aisles terminating in an apse or semi-dome, round which the aisle is carried... Fifteen pillars on each side separate the nave from the aisle; each pillar has a tall base, an octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented capital, on the inner front of which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, generally a man and a woman, but sometimes two females, all very much better executed than such ornaments usually are; behind are horses and tigers, each bearing a single figure."

Main inscriptions

Bhutapala

An inscription on the left wall of the veranda, over the line of facing elephants and under the scultpture of a multi-storied building, mentions the completion of the "rock mansion" by a setthi (merchant) from Vaijayanti (Banavasi) named Bhutapala:

(This) rock-mansion, the most excellent in Jambudvipa, has been completed by the Setthi Bhutapala from Vaijayanti.

— Inscription 1 of Buthapala, Karla Caves.

The "completion" of the "rock-mansion" mentioned by Bhutapala may only refer to the ornate sculptures of the veranda, specifically to the multi-storied mansion sculpted on top of the inscription, rather than the cave as a whole, since the various components of the Karla caves generally bear inscriptions by their individual donators.

Yavana (Greek) donors

There are also inscriptions by private donors, who contributed parts of the Great Chaitya, including self-described Yavana (Asiatic Greek or Indo-Greek) donors, who donated six of the pillars, although their names are Buddhist names. They account for nearly half of the known dedicatory inscriptions on the pillars of the Chaitya.

• 3rd pillar of the left row:

"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Sihadhaya from Dhenukataka"

• 4th pillar of the left row:

"Of Dhamma, a Yavana from Dhenukakata"

• 9th pillar of the left row:

"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Yasavadhana from Denukakata"

• 5th pillar of the right row:

"This pillar is the gift of the Yavana Vitasamghata from Umehanakata"

• 13th pillar of the right row:

"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Dhamadhaya from Denukakata"

• 15th pillar of the right row:

"(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Chulayakha from Dhenukakata". Next to the inscription is a Buddhist Swastika.

The city of Dhenukakata is thought to be Danahu near the city of Karli. It is said by another donor in another inscription that it has a "vaniya-gama" (A community of merchants).

The Yavanas are also known for their donation of a complete cave at the Nasik Caves (cave No.17), and for their donations with inscriptions at the Junnar caves.

Nahapana

An important dedicatory inscription relates to Nahapana on the lintel to the right of the entrance of the Great Chaitya (Valurak is thought to be an ancient name for Karla Caves):

Success!! By Usabhadata, the son of Dinaka and the son-in-law of the king, the Khaharata, the Kshatrapa Nahapana, who gave three hundred thousand cows, who made gifts of gold and a tirtha on the river Banasa, who gave to the Devas and Bramhanas sixteen villages, who at the pure tirtha Prabhasa gave eight wives to the Brahmanas, and who also fed annually a hundred thousand Brahmanas- there has been given the village of Karajika for the support of the ascetics living in the caves at Valuraka without any distinction of sect or origin, for all who would keep the varsha.

— Inscription 13 of Nahapana, Karla Caves, 120 CE.

Sri Pulumayi

On the lintel to the left of the main entrance to the Great Chaitya, facing the inscription of Nahapana and posterior to it by a generation, there is also an inscription by Satavahana ruler Sri Pulumayi, that is, Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE):

In the seventh year of the king Sri Pulamavi, son of Vasithi, in the fifth fortnight of summer, on the first day, on the above, by the Maharathi Somadeva son of Vasithi, the son of the Maharathi Mitradeva son of Kosiki, of the Okhalakiyas, there was given to the community of Valuraka, of the Valuraka caves, a village with its taxes ordinary and extraordinary, with its income fixed or proportional.

— Inscription 14 of Sri Pulumavi.

Architectural parallels

The pillars of the Chaitya at Karla are most similar to the pillars of Vihara No.10, at Nasik Caves, also built by Ushavadata, the son-in-law of Nahapana ("Ushavadata, son of Dinika, son-in- law of king Nahapana, the Kshaharata Kshatrapa, (...) has caused this cave to be made and these cisterns."). The proportions and general layout are similar, as are the various architectural elements, including the shape of the bells, the framed toruses, the bases, the capitals and they supporting animals and human figures. These points to a contemporaneity of the Karla Chaitya and the Nahapana vihara at Nasik, circa 70-120 CE.

On the contrary, the pillars of Nasik vihara No.3 built by the mother of Gautamiputra Satakarni circa 150 CE, depart from the elegant shapes and simplicity of the pillars at Karla and Vihara No.10. They are more similar to those of the Chaitya at Kanheri, built by Yajna Sri Satakarni circa 170 CE.

Other Chaityas and Viharas

Within the complex are a great many other carved chaityas, as well as viharas, or dwelling places for the caves' monks. A notable feature of these caves is their arched entrances and vaulted interiors. Names of donors are inscribed on pillars in Brahmi script in these caves. The outside facade has intricate details carved into it in an imitation of finished wood. The central motif is a large horseshoe arch. There is an Ashokan pillar at the front, with a closed stone facade and torana in between.

One of the Vihara cells bears an inscription of the Satavahana ruler Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE).

Success!! On the second day of the third fortnight of winter in the twenty fourth year of King Sri Pulumavi, son of Vasithi, this pious gift of the lay worshiper Harapharana, son of Setapharana, a Sovasaka, living in Abulama, a nine-celled hall, has been given to the universal Sangha, as special property of the Mahasamghikas, in honor of his parents and securing the welfare and happiness of all beings. In the twenty first year it had been completed and ...... to me by Budharakhita and his mother ...., a lay worshipper. The ......a pious gift of Budharakhita's mother.

— Inscription of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi, Karla Caves Vihara.

Influences

Several Chaitya Caves were built in imitation of the Great Chaitya at Karla. This is especially the case of the Great Chaitya at Kanheri, in the northern suburb in Mumbai, probably built during the reign of Yajna Sri Satakarni (circa 150 CE). According to Fergusson, it is certain that the plan of the Chaitya Cave at Kanheri is a literal copy of that at Karle, but the architectural details show exactly the same difference in style as is found between Cave 17 (period of Nahapana circa 115 CE) and Cave 3 (period of Sri Pulumavi, circa 170 CE) at the Nasik Caves.

Some caves at Ajanta, such as Cave 19, built in the 5th century CE, were also modeled after the Karla Great Chaitya.

Hindu temples, the first instances of which are known from the Gupta period in the 4th-5th century CE, seem to have borrowed influences from early Buddhist Chaitya Caves such as the Karla Chaitya, especially in the apsidial design, as seen in Durga temple in Aihole.

Cave painting

In Great Chaitya cave, there is a painting on the top backside of 10th pillar right side of the entrance. One has to use mobile light to see the painting.