KARLA CAVES DOCUMENTATION

KARLA VILLAGE
 Karli village is located on the highway between Pune and Mumbai
in Mawal Taluka of Pune district.
 Natinal highways reachable to Karla are NH348 & NH65
 Nearest Railway Station, Lonavala Station: 6. 32 Kms
 The town encompasses an area of 457 ha ( 1,129 acres)
 The village comprised 624 households (census 2011), the
popiulation of 2748 was split between 1493 males and 1309
females.
 Near by rivers are River Bhima & River Ghod.

BUDDHIST CAVES
 Buddhist monks were also in the habit of using natural caves, such as the
Saptaparni Cave, southwest from Rajgir, Bihar. The Buddha himself had
also used the Indrasala Cave for meditation, starting a tradition of using
caves, natural or man-made, as religious retreats, that would last for over
a millennium.

 Few of the most famous and oldest buddhist caves are the Bhaja Caves,
the Karla Caves, the Besdse Caves, the Kanheri caves & some of the
Ajanta Caves.

 Late in the 2nd century BCE, Asoka's Mauryan Empire began to

disintegrate, resulting in the formation of a series of smaller kingdoms:
1. The Sunga in the west,
2. The Satavahanas to the south, and in
3. The north the Shakas.

This transformation paralleled an equally important transformation within

Buddhism that had important implications in the field of architecture.
  Buddhist Stupas were constructed for residential purpose and meditation.
Interior walls have smooth surfce.
Architecture and construction detailing are derivatives of timberand
thatched construction hued out in stone.

CHAITYA HALLS, KARLA CAVES

 One of the largest and most impressive
 Built in 120 CE at Karli, western Deccan Plateau.
 About 40 m deep and 12 m wide.
 Facade has recessed entrance of stone screens that has holes in it
indicating that originally, larger wooden construction was added to
complete the building.
 the entrance panel also contains the bodhisattvas, these were carved in
late 5th century CE, when the iconography was modernised.
 Just beyond the screen, on the left, is a large pillar carved from the same
matrix as the rest of the cave.
 The central panel of the cave entrance is dominated by several panels of
male female couples.
 The end wall of the entrance portico displays a stamped-out, repeated set
of horseshoe-arches building motifs that sit at top of the plinth composed
of a life- sized elephants, as if they were supporting the weight of the
superstructure.
 Compared to the earlier chaitya caves, the width of Karli central space is
much more generous in relation to its height and depth.

STUPA, KARLA CAVES

 The Karli Stupa focuses at the Hierarchial composition.
 The stupa has a relatively simpler form than the entire structure.
 Simple Hemisphere sits atop a slightly tappered base, ornqmented
with carved vedikas.
 Its Chattri rises simply form a rectangular base, or harmika, which
expands into mushrooming tiers of horizontal bonda.
 It suddenly projects into space on a high vertical stambh, upon
which sits the final chattri, which becomes the focus of the entire
composition.
 The chattri cathches the light in the dark surroundings and their by
apperas as a horizontal flash in a vertical composition.
 The chattri denotes the umbrella of the buddhist ideal under which
the monk finds shelter and faith.
REFERENCES
1. Global history of Architecture by D.K. Ching

2. www.wikipedia.org

3. www.onefivenine.com