Photo Details

Landscape

Name: Suresh Khaire

Country of residence: India

Country where picture is taken:

Title of the Picture: Kenyadri

Camera Canon 5D Mark III, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Lens

Filter: Not used

ISO 1/3200 sec; f/4.0; ISO 320

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Comment: Lenyadri (Marathi: लेण्याद्री, Leṇyādri), sometimes called Ganesa Lena, represents a series of about 30 rock-cut Buddhist caves, located about 5km north of Junnar in Pune district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Other caves surrounding the city of Junnar are: Manmodi caves, Shivneri caves and Tulja caves.

Cave 7, originally a Buddhist vihara, has been adapted as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ganesha. It is one of the Ashtavinayak shrines, a set of the eight prominent Ganesha shrines in Western Maharashtra. Twenty-six of the caves are individually numbered. The caves face to the south and are numbered serially from east to west. Caves 6 and 14 are chaitya-grihas (chapels), while the rest are viharas (dwellings for monks). The latter are in the form of dwellings and cells. There are also several rock-cut water cisterns; two of them have inscriptions. The layout of the caves, in general, are similar in pattern and shape. They generally have one or two sides with two long benches for occupants' use.

The caves date from between the 1st and 3rd century AD; the Ganesha shrine situated in Cave 7 is dated to the 1st century AD,[1][4] though the date of conversion to a Hindu shrine is unknown. All of the caves arise from Hinayana Buddhism.[1]