PLACES

PAVALA CAVES

The caves of Pavala (Panhala Mahal), which are of Buddhist origin, are cut in rock near Jotiba's hill six miles north-west of Kolhapur. As in the Pandav Darah group there are two main caves, one which is supposed to have been the school and the other the chapel or caitya. There is also a rock-cut water cistern. A narrow verandah formerly fronted by pillars is cut along the face of the hill. The entrance into the main chapel cave leads from a verandah (35' x 4' x 9' high) by a door (9' x 5') with side windows each four feet by five. The larger cave is a hall nearly square (34½ x 32') and nine feet high. The flat roof rests on three side rows of fourteen pillars each. Twenty-three cells open out from the sides of the hall, each about seven feet long, five broad, and seven high. Between the three side rows of pillars and the cells runs an open passage, forty-one feet long and four feet broad. The smaller cave (31' x 16' x 12½' high), which is supposed to have been a lecture room, is entered by a gate seven and a half feet wide and seven feet high, and has a rock-cut pulpit or raised seat for the teacher. The caves have been taken under the charge of the Archaeological Department, but no major repairs have been carried out.

TOP