Feel of the Caves: Bhaja Caves

                If you love rain, then the monsoon in Maharashtra is ideal for you. There are many places to travel to in this state. If you are a resident of Pune, you also have a sufficient number of choices to travel, ranging from 70 Km to 250 km.  You can travel to theses nearby places by a motor-bike, by car, by local train or by booking a car, traveler or bus.

                Most of the places can be covered within a day if you start early and there is no need for an overnight halt. There are a variety of places to see and enjoy nature; mountains, hills, sea-beaches and the highway as well between Pune-Mumbai.

                This weekend I and my friends decided to venture out to the Bhaja Caves in Malavli. This station Malavli is one station before the famous tourist destination Lonavla.  The best way to go there with respect to money and in short time is by local train which costs only Rs.10 one-way and takes about 40 minutes to reach. Another good thing about going by train is that one does not need to hassle to find a place to park one’s vehicle, once you reach, because in that hilly terrain parking is nightmare.  One can find the local train time table at this site:  http://erail.in/#   the site is quite good. Search for Pune-Lonavala local trains.

All the Pune-Lonavla locals start from Pune station and the first one’s are at 0030 hours, i.e. midnight. We were five guys and the most convenient time for us turned out to be 1018 hours in the morning.  True, there is a bit of rush in the Pimpri station at this time, but if you start from Pune station you can easily get a seat.  Sit back and enjoy as Malavli station is the second last. We got down from the train at 1115 hours.

                Do not miss out the aloo samosa at the Malavli station. It is sold by many and it is priced at Rs.10 for two pieces.  With the clouds hovering above our heads and the rain falling, we enjoyed every bit of the hot samosa. It just relieved our hungry stomachs.  Ask anyone for the exit that one need to take for the Bhaja Caves, left or right as there are only two platforms or just follow the crowd.  There is a single road leading to the caves and on the way the scenery is beautiful. One will find the houses of local people and some road side tea-stalls selling local Maharashtrian snacks like Vada Pao, Miscel Pao, Kanda Pohe and Tea. In the rain, it gives relief to sip on some hot tea. We had our share of snacks and tea and we marched forward towards the caves.  On the right hand side of the road, the beauty of the mountains is majestic, lush green mountain slopes with their tops covered with the clouds during the rainy season. On the left side of the road as one walks on, there are many small and medium sized waterfalls.

 There are two main waterfalls on the way, one just before the stairs to the caves and the other after the caves. We decided to pay a visit to the caves first and then enjoy the falls. The steps of the stairs are steep and do become slippery in the rainy season, but since this is a national monument so it has been protected and maintained very nicely by the government. The road diverges immediately after the first major waterfall; one towards the stairs leading to the caves and the other  road leads to the Lohagad Fort. The distance from the station to the top of the caves is around 2.5 km, which one can easily cover in a matter of 30 – 35 minutes.

 As one starts to climb the stairs, the view of the landscape opens up and it is awesome. The cloud covered mountains on your right, the green water filled fields on your right and the waterfall just behind you. It is an ideal place for photography. As you climb the stairs on one’s left will fall the Ticket Booking Counter. Each ticket is priced at Rs. 5.

                Finally we reached the entry to the caves.  It will be good if one does a little bit of Google before any trip, it has certainly helped me in many occasions and I came across the following piece of information from Wikipedia.

 The Bhaja Caves are a group of 22 rock-cut caves dating back to 200 BC located at Maval, near Lonavala, Maharashtra. The caves are located 400 feet above the Bhaja Village. It belongs to the Hinayana Buddhist sect and has a number of stupas in open space. 

There are around 14 stupas, which are relics of resident monks, who died at Bhaja and display an inscription with the names of three monks, Ampinika, Dhammagiri and Sanghdina. The stupas and the architecture there will give you a feel of how great the human history is! How man facing many odds build such a structure. 

 One will get to see the caves which served as rooms to these ancient people. There are engraving of gods and goddess on the walls. These creations have stood the test of time. One need to be extra careful in the rainy season as the stairs and the pathways become quite slippery. The view from the top is beautiful. All the caves can be covered in around two and half hours, after which we came down. We took the path leading to the Lohagad Fort and after travelling around half kilometer, we came across another waterfall. People were enjoying themselves taking a dip and bathing there.

 

Since the depth of the water is not much, most upto the waist level for adults so anyone can easily take a bath. But caution needs to be exercised as rocks are present and can hurt anybody. After enjoying the water-fall for an hour we started our journey back home. One can always enjoy a hot cup of tea after getting wet. By half past five we were are home, nursing our tired feet.