Kanheri Caves

Kanheri consists of around a hundred and ten rock-cut cells, halls and cisterns cut into a basalt outcrop between roughly the first century BC and the tenth century AD, making it one of the longest continuously occupied Buddhist sites in India. Cave 3 is a large chaitya hall with a stupa and rows of thick octagonal pillars and standing Buddha figures at the entrance. Elsewhere are viharas with stone beds cut into the floor, an elaborate water system of channels and cisterns cut into the rock, and inscriptions recording donations. It sits inside a national park within the city limits, with leopards in the surrounding forest.

Highlights

• The chaitya hall - a large pillared prayer hall with a stupa.
• The monastic cells - viharas with stone beds cut into the rock.
• The water system - channels and cisterns cut across the hillside.
• The forest setting - national park woodland inside Mumbai's boundary.

When to go

November to February for comfortable walking; the monsoon greens the park and runs the rock channels, but paths are slippery. The park closes on Mondays.

Practical notes

Access requires entering the national park and taking park transport or walking six kilometres. Leopards live in the park and evening movement is restricted. Many caves are plain cells with little to see.

Nearby

Borivali station lies east; central Mumbai is south.