 |
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.
| 
