Lenyadri Caves :)

Reason to Smile: It is so wonderful to come to this page and write about the experiences every now and then. I was obviously happier that it used to be every Monday morning. What took me aback is that now there is a regular gap. It had been 3 weeks post my Gandikota trip that I had not been to any new place or explored or even taken any attempt to make any plans. It was this 'restless' me who just jumped to joy when Aashishji gave me a call over the weekend and informed me about Naldurg at Solapur. Before even I could hear any further on what and how we have to proceed, I just said Yes and we started the leg work. Eventually I also learnt about the Lenyadri plans Merwyn was making an effort on and had invited me earlier to check on it. Both over the same weekend !

So while I had already committed to Aashish ji  by then, I checked on all possible commute that we could utilize to safely reach Solapur and back. I checked with Merwyn if he could join us too if his plans were dicy to reach Lenyadri and other nearby ones. He confirmed that he was going. I got confused as I wanted to join both plans :P But then I also checked that Naldurg, Bhuikot Fort, Siddheshwar Temple all could not be practically possible in a day. Each fort takes about 4 - 5 hrs !
Aashish ji and I then gave in to last minute plans by Merwyn and joined them for Lenydri ! :)


So we started sharp at 5 AM and reached Junnar District by around 10 AM. Area around Junnar contains more than 200 ancient rock-cut temples. Main four groups of these temples are Manmod Caves to the south-east, Shivneri Caves to the south-west, Tulja Lena to the west and Lenyadri Caves to the north. Manmod caves - Buddhist monasteries - have been created approximately 2000 years ago, in the 1st - 3rd century AD, they were designed after Hinayana canons. Caves were created in three compact groups. Easternmost is Bhimashankar Group (10 caves), in the middle is Ambika Group (19 caves) and closer to Junnar, more to the north-west is Bhutling Group (16 caves).

The first spot we chose was to cover the lesser known caves that resides about 1.5 kms before the Lenyadri caves. The Amba - Ambika, The Bhutling and the Bhimashankar caves circularly located at the Manmod Hills are way too beautiful in the name of exploring 2000 years old Buddhist Rock Cut caves and have been maintained in a nice way. A short trek to the first Caves Amba Ambika and we are greeted with large rock cut Pillars that stand tall to enter the caves with a huge Stupa inside. The caves in all of these mountains are numbered. While we were traversing the Ambika to reach Bhutlinga caves, we suddenly spotted a beautiful large Tomb like shape from the top that could be seen from the bushes around the jungle. Me and Merwyn were pretty curious if that was a Masjid or some ancient Temple that we could visit and surprisingly it was a very old Mosque called 'Gumbad' at the base of Ambika Village. It is structurally a treat to the eyes ! Placed at a quadrangle of the ground, it has a circular para-pit to reach the gate of the Mosque.  Just adjacent to the mosque is a small yet very unique Hindu Temple too ! Clearly the idea of a Hindu Muslim bond was never in question back in those days !!

Next stop was Tulja Caves located about 2 kms away. A few rock cut steps to the caves and it has a Tulja Bhavani Temple besides those popular laid out pillars that succumbs the Stupa of the Buddhist monasteries. It looks like a large veranda with steps to follow to various other caves situated on the left side of the mountain neatly protected and symmetrically numbered.

Lenyadri Group of Caves has been protected by the Archeological Survey of India as a monument of National importance. These hills consists of numerous Budhhist rock-cut caves. This is the largest numbers of caves at one place in the whole country, numbering over 200, spread across the hill. They are datable from mid 3rd century BC to late 3rd century AD ! The centre cave and the largest has a Ganesh temple inside for the local worshipers who climb 300 steps almost on a daily basis :)

While we had decided that we would stay back at Junnar and cover all these in 2 days, we were fast enough to capture the magnanimity in just a few hours. The 5 AM departure worked well and hence we would return the same day by 11 PM ! :)

All in all a superb weekend getaway for history lovers, long drive lovers, and those who like to explore Buddhist caves ! :)

Till the next adventure last minute one, Keep Smiling :)