Karla Caves
— — a cathedral cut into the hillside.
Not only on a wall.
“A rock-cut Buddhist sanctuary in the Western Ghats, carved into a basalt spur above the old trade road between the Deccan and the coast. The great chaitya hall holds a vaulted prayer space older than most cathedrals in Europe, with the original teak ribs still set into the stone ceiling. Monsoon mist drifts up the valley from June through September; the dry months turn the cliff a hot ochre. from the studio
Karla 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.
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.
The place, in three passes.
The Karla Caves are a complex of rock-cut Buddhist sanctuaries on a basalt spur of the Western Ghats in Pune District, Maharashtra, above the town of Lonavala. They were excavated in two main phases between roughly the second century BCE and the fifth century CE, on the old trade route linking the Deccan plateau to the Konkan ports. The site comprises sixteen excavations dominated by the Great Chaitya, the largest early rock-cut prayer hall in India. Today the caves are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and reached by a stepped path from the village of Karli.
The Great Chaitya is roughly 45 metres long, 14 metres wide, and 14 metres high, carved as a single space from the living rock around 120 CE under the patronage of Western Kshatrapa donors. Thirty-seven octagonal pillars line the apsidal hall, capped by carved kneeling elephants and riders. The most striking survival is the original teak ribbing set into the vaulted stone ceiling — actual wood, fitted at the time of excavation, still in place after nearly two thousand years. A monolithic stupa stands at the apse end.
The caves lie about 11 kilometres north of Lonavala and are reached by a climb of roughly 350 stone steps from the road. The site is open daily except Mondays, with a small entry fee for international visitors. Mornings are the calmer hour; the Ekvira Devi temple built into the courtyard draws crowded pilgrim weekends, especially during Chaitra and Navratri. The monsoon from June through September turns the surrounding valley intensely green but makes the steps slick. November through February is the standard dry-season window.