These are Buddhist caves or
monasteries where monks practiced their austerities around the first century
AD. And unlike the artistic extravagance of Elephanta, they are spartan
and bare. Situated in the heart of Mumbai's National Park, the complex
contains more than a hundred tiny cells cut into the flank of a hill,
each fitted with a stone plinth that evidently served as a bed. There
is also a congregation hall supported by huge stone pillars that contains
the dagoba, a kind of Buddhist shrine. And if you pick your way up the
hill you will find channels and cisterns that are remnants of an ancient
water system that channeled rainwater into huge urns. In fact, Kanheri
is probably the only clue to the rise and fall of Buddhism in Western
India.
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