Tulja Caves (Tulja Lena) are located beyond the Shivneri hill, about 4 km to the west of

Junnar Junnar (Marathi pronunciation: ͡ʒunːəɾ is a city in the Pune district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city has history dating back to the first millennium. The nearby fort of Shivneri was the birthplace of Maratha king Shivaji ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Other caves surrounding the city of Junnar are: Manmodi Caves, Shivneri Caves and Lenyadri caves. The cave has circular

Chaitya A chaitya, chaitya hall, chaitya-griha, (Sanskrit:''Caitya''; Pāli: ''Cetiya'') refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions. The term is most common in Buddhism, where it refers to a space with a stupa and a rounded ...

hall surrounded by twelve octagonal pillars around

Stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

. These caves are one of the earliest caves of

, excavated around 50 B.C. This

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

group consist of 14 cave. Cave No 4 is used as a temple of goddess Tulja Devi.

Description

The Tulja Lena caves lie in a hill about a mile and a half or two miles north-west from

, beyond the north end of Sivaneri hill. They owe their name to a shrine of Tulja Devi, a form of

Bhavani Bhavānī (also known as Bhāvya, Tulajā, Turajā, Tvarita, Aṃbā, Jagadambā and Aṃbē) is an epithet associated with Durga. Bhavani translates to "giver of life," meaning the power of nature or the source of creative energy. She is cons ...

, the consort of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

(see Tulja Bhavani Temple). The caves run along the face of the cliff nearly from south-east to north-west, facing about south-west, but all the façades have fallen away. They consist of a number of cells and two small viharas, with a

cave of a form quite unique. It is circular in plan, 25 feet 6 inches across, with a dagoba in the centre, 8 feet 2 inches in diameter, surrounded by twelve plain octagonal shafts 11 feet in height, supporting a dome over the dagoba. The surrounding aisle is roofed by a half arch rising from the wall to the upper side of an architrave 7 or 8 inches deep over the pillars. The dagoba is perfectly plain, but its capital has been hewn off to convert it into a huge

linga A lingam ( , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. The word ''lingam'' is found in the Upanishads and epic literature, wher ...

, and even the dome is much hacked into, while some of the pillars have been notched and others broken. In front of this cave and the one on each side of it is a platform built by the modern devotees of Tulja Devi. Over the front of one of the cells to the north-east of this are left some Chaitya-window ornamentation, a larger one over where the door has been, the inner arch of which is filled with knotted ribbons etc..., similar to what is over the Chaitya-cave door at the Nasik Caves, while the front of the arch is carved with flowers. On each side of this is a smaller arch; and farther to the left is a dagoba in half relief with the umbrella or

chhatri ''Chhatri'' are semi-open, elevated, dome-shaped pavilions used as an element in Indo-Islamic architecture and Indian architecture. They are most commonly square, octagonal, and round. Originating as a canopy above tombs, they largely ser ...

over it, on each side a

Gandharva A ''gandharva'' () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they ...

Kinnara A kinnara (Sanskrit: Kiṃnara) is a creature from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are described as part human and part bird, and have a strong association with music and love. Believed to come from the Himalayas, they often watch ove ...

above, and a male figure below, that to the right attended by a female, but all of them weatherworn. Over all is a projecting frieze carved on front with the "Buddhist rail pattern". Tulja Lena Chaitya remains

Next to these are two more plain fronts, and then two with Chaitya-window heads over where the doors have been, and smaller ones between, and the "rail ornament" and quadrantal carved roll supported by slender brackets in entire relief, as at the

Bhaja Caves Bhaja Caves are a group of 22 Indian rock-cut architecture, rock-cut caves dating back to the 2nd century BC located off the Mumbai - Pune expressway near the city of Pune, India. The caves are 400 feet above the village of Bhaja, on an important ...

Tulja Lena Chaitya cave plan and elevation

References

External links

Kevin Standage, An Indian Travel Photography Blog (Tulja Lena caves)
{{BuddhasHolySites Buddhist caves in Maharashtra Caves of Maharashtra Rock-cut architecture of India Former populated places in India Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Buddhist monasteries in India Buddhist temples in India Stupas in India Architecture in India Caves containing pictograms in India