Bhaja Caves - Architecture

Architecture

The Bhaja Caves share the same set of architectural designs as Karla Caves. Visually, the most impressive monument is large shrine — chaityagriha — with an open, horseshoe-arched entrance. The chaitrya has unique reliefs of Indian mythology. Other caves have a nave and aisle, with an apse containing a solid tupa and the aisle circling round the apse, providing the circumambulation path.

A notable part of monument is a group of 14 stupas, five inside and nine outside an irregular excavation. One of the caves has some fine sculptures.

Near the last cave is a waterfall which, during the monsoon season, has water that falls into a small pool at the bottom. These caves also provide important proof regarding the history of the Tabla, an Indian percussion instrument. The carvings shows a woman playing tabla and another performing a dance, dating back to 200 BC.

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