Pataleshwar Caves...Pune
I remember visiting the Pataleshwar Caves as a child. I don't think the Archaeological Society of India had taken it under its roof at that time. It was a dark place always with water on its floors, with snakes and bats as its residents. I had vowed to myself never to go there again, but so many years later I found myself there once again. What I saw pleasantly surprised me. The whole premise was clean and very well preserved. There was no sign of water and the claustrophobia that I had felt as a child, just vanished.
Living in the city of Pune, it has become something bordering on an obsession to know more about her numerous heritage sites, structures, buildings, and Vadas. Secrets to be unearthed, tales to be told, sculptures to be studied. A picture then unfolds taking us to the long lost, but rich Era.
Dr. Indurkar an Indologist, was with us one Sunday morning, sharing his in depth knowledge of the Pataleshwar Caves.
Before he took us around the caves, he explained why it was important to find answers to Four questions:
1) Where ( The location of the structure )
2) What ( The kind of structure it is )
3) How ( The material that was used to build it )
4) Period (Approximate Era that it was built in. Most Archaeologists use Relative Dating )
So we moved on from the open space into the mandap with Dr. Indurkar.
As he explained, I could picturise this huge rock of Basalt and the artisans chipping away, to its present condition.A perfect circular base and roof with pillars for support.
A huge Nandi, (also carved out of a single stone) faced Lord Shiva.
The only tools used by the workmen was a pickaxe and a chisel. The Architects gave the orders and the workmen chipped away. One cannot begin to comprehend the precision in which the work needed to be carried out. Less force and there would not even be a dent in the stone, a little more force and the stone would have been cracked, to be abandoned. The intense care in which the work force carried out this piece of Architecture, today, stands tall at Pataleshwar.
This structure is known as the Nandi Mandap. Behind Nandi is a flat area, in which musicians played and sang in honour of Lord Shiva.
As we move ahead, on the left side of the main entrance are three tiny enclosures, (also dug out from the main cave) which housed Lord Ganesh and Parvati, but today lie empty of the idols.
The main cave is the temple of Lord Shiva.
As we enter the cave, it is divided into the Mukha, or the entrance, the Mala, the Antaral, and the Garbha Gruha. The Mala is where a smaller Nandi resides. The Antaral is the space between the Mala and the Garbha Gruha or the sanctum of Lord Shiva.
A beautifully carved door or the Dwar Shakha, opens into the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord. This is decorated with the flora and fauna of the earth.
On both sides of the temple in the cave are long passages, supported by pillars in stone.
On the left one finds a sculpture carved into the wall of the cave, depicting the story of Gajasurvadha, on the right is another sculpture either incomplete or broken due to the ravages of time.
Behind the temple, but also a part of the cave, another passage way has been dug out. This is for the devotees to do their Parikrama or circumambulation around the lord.
The cave temple was built around the 8th Century, and was an experiment before the temple at Verul , or Ellora, as it is known today. Unlike most temples, this one was originally a Hindu temple. Most of the cave temples in Maharashtra however were Buddhist in origin. Only after the wave of Buddhism receded did they become Hindu temples.
The question of why such structures were carved out of caves, needs an explanation. The answer could not have been more simple. Structures carved out of caves need almost no maintenance and can withstand the uncertainties of the weather for long periods of time. This is evident even today as we saw, in just one such structure at Pataleshwar.
Taking Pataleshwar as an example, it is seen that once ASI, took it under its wing, certain parts which had not stood the passage of time,were repaired in a most ingenious way.Looking up at the ceiling of the Mandap he pointed out the restoration work that was carried out. Glass was placed in the cracks, filling them with cement blocks. If the glass cracked, it meant that the cracks in the ceiling had widened.
While taking us around Pataleshwar, Dr. Indurkar, also gave us an insight of other rock temples in Maharashtra.
Verul being the largest one, cut out from an entire rock. There are 1200 such Leni's or caves in Maharashtra alone. Also Maharashtra has the distinction of being on the top of Rock cut literature.
Unfortunately none of the caves bear any inscription, depicting the names of the artists and architects who designed these caves.
Places like Ambe Jogai have 6 massive elephants,carved from stone.
Another interesting anecdote was of Inmagaon a village. The huts in the village had these concentric holes dug into the ground. The villagers explained that these holes were filled with Acacia (Babhli) thorns. grain storing Urns were then placed on these holes. This was a way to keep out the rodents and insects from getting into the grains and destroying the yearly stock. This centuries old method is still being followed even today. Nothing written but stories and anecdotes repeated generation to generation and still followed.
A tour which began and ended at Pataleshwar, actually took us all around Maharashtra, giving us a glimpse of the life and times in, as far back as the 8th Century.
