Rock-cut Buddhist Monasteries of the Southern Konkan

Abstract

• Whilst many rock-cut Buddhist monasteries in Maharashtra have been documented in detail, those located in the southern Konkan have not been published. Between the second century BCE and the fourth century CE several monasteries were cut close to the western edge of the Western Ghats mountains to the south of the better known rock-cut monasteries at Kuda and Mahad. This article documents the locations, dates and landscape contexts of the monasteries at Chiplun and Khed alongside detailed descriptions of individual caves. The article finishes with a reassessment of the dates of the early phase of cave cutting at Panhale Kaji. The region of the southern Konkan, and the town of Chiplun in particular, is significant to the present volume as Professor V. Shinde grew up in this area. By documenting the caves in full it is hoped that the archaeology of the area will feature in art-historical and historical debates about the ancient Deccan.