Wender·Vista
Kanheri Caves
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndia
in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, north of Mumbai

Kanheri Caves

— — a Buddhist city carved into a black basalt hill.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A hundred-odd rock-cut Buddhist caves on the basalt slopes of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, inside the northern limits of greater Mumbai. The carvers worked here for more than a thousand years, leaving prayer halls, monk cells, water cisterns, and a great chaitya whose stone pillars still hold the echo. The forest has come back around it; leopards live in the same hills.

from the studio
Kanheri Caves
— bring it home

Kanheri Caves, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Kanheri Caves

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The Kanheri Caves sit in the basalt highland of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, about 40 kilometres north of central Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. They comprise 109 rock-cut Buddhist caves carved between the first century BCE and the tenth century CE, spanning the Hinayana and Mahayana phases of Indian Buddhism. The site lay on a trade route between the ancient port of Sopara and the inland Deccan, which sustained the monastic community through donations from merchants and rulers for over a millennium.

— the stone

The caves are cut entirely from a single hill of Deccan Trap basalt, a hard volcanic rock laid down some 66 million years ago in the eruptions that ended the Cretaceous. The largest, Cave 3, is a chaitya hall about 26 metres long with a stupa at the apse and rows of octagonal pillars carved from the living rock. Carved cisterns still collect monsoon water; inscriptions name the donors who paid for each. Many cells retain the original stone benches where monks slept.

— informed by Wikipedia: Deccan Traps
— the visit

The caves lie inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park; entry is from the Borivali gate, with a separate small fee for the caves themselves. From the gate, the caves are about seven kilometres up a tarred road; visitors walk, hire a park bus, or share an auto-rickshaw. The Archaeological Survey of India administers the site, open daily except Monday. The best months are November to February, after the monsoon, when the forest is green and the basalt cool underfoot.

— where
India · Borivali, Mumbai, Maharashtra
— within
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
— elevation
460 m · 1,509 ft
— position
19.2086° N · 72.9061° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
at the lake
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
national park
7 km W
Borivali
Mumbai suburb
40 km S
Mumbai
metropolis
4 km S
Tulsi Lake
reservoir
6 km S
Vihar Lake
reservoir
N
Kanheri Caves
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Borivali
Mumbai
Tulsi Lake
Vihar Lake
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Kanheri Caves — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in the northern Mumbai suburb of Borivali, in Maharashtra. The caves are about 40 kilometres from south Mumbai and seven kilometres from the park's main Borivali gate.

109, numbered by the Archaeological Survey of India. They were carved between roughly the first century BCE and the tenth century CE, making Kanheri one of the longest-occupied Buddhist cave sites in India.

The great chaitya, or prayer hall, about 26 metres long, with a hemispherical stupa at the apse and two rows of octagonal pillars carved from the basalt. It dates to roughly the second century CE.

Buddhist monks of the Hinayana and later Mahayana traditions, with funding from merchants and rulers along the ancient trade route between the port of Sopara and the Deccan plateau. Inscriptions name many of the donors.

November through February, after the southwest monsoon, when daytime temperatures sit near 28°C and the forest is at its greenest. The park closes on Mondays and access roads can flood during heavy June rains.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for either reader. The basalt blacks and forest greens of the hillside land as recognition rather than tourist postcard. A Medium on a study wall, or a Coaster Set, travels neatly to the recipient.

The deep basalt palette settles into Minimalist Asian interiors, into rooms with teak and brass, and into Maximalist spaces where dark jewel tones do most of the heavy work.

Above a sofa, the Large works as a single quiet anchor; a 4-tile Mural opens the wall further; a 9-tile Mural becomes the room. Above a console, the Medium or Large.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and tolerate steam and splashes, suiting a backsplash above a vanity or a tile inset in a shower wall.

A soft microfibre cloth with water lifts dust and marks. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and lives beneath a thin glossy finish; it will not fade with cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in-house by the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. No images are licensed in or out; the work exists only as ceramic tiles finished in our workshop.

— if this one stayed with you

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