Kanheri cave complex
2022 DEC 17
Preliminary >
Art and Culture > Architecture > Rock cut architecture
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