Buddhist Rock-cut Caves found near Shirapur, Dist. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra

Two Buddhist rock – cut caves have been discovered in the hills of Garbhagiri situated 6 kms from the village Shirapur, Dist. Ahmednagar, by Dr. Shreekant Jadhav, Deccan College, Pune. They consist of an unfinished chaityagriha (prayer hall containing a stupa) and an unfinished vihara (residential quarter). The chaityagriha is apsidal on plan, measuring 36ft. x16 ft. and 21 ft. high. The stupa measuring 8ft. stands in the apse, with a round hole at the top for the wooden shaft of the umbrella (which is missing today). The important feature of this particular cave is that there are two octagonal hanging pillars on the left; the third pillar was in the process i.e. just trimmed in a square vertical block. There are few stone beams on the ceiling above the stupa as well as on the outer face of the chaitya arch. All these features suggest an early date i.e. circa 1st – 2nd. Century C.E. About 100 meters to the west of the chaityagriha is an unfinished vihara measuring 40ft.x 35 ft. The ceiling of this vihara is almost finished, and all the three walls show remains of cells.

Dr. Shreekant Jadhav studied the caves in detail. He is of the opinion that though the parent rock is basalt, it is of a poor quality. It comprises of close jointing, chlorophaeite enriched zones and phalgonites in both the chaityagriha and vihara respectively. A huge band of the red bole traverses horizontally in the vihara, at the rear end where the excavation had stopped. Even though the caves remained unfinished due to the bad quality of the rock, they are immensely important. The beginning of the excavation of these caves points to the existence of the Buddhist samgha in this region, which was almost unknown till date. Other than these remains, scholars have hardly found any Buddhist rock – cut activity in this part of the state. Most of the rock – cut caves are located in the Sahyadri mountain ranges. Hence this finding is of special importance.

Cannonballs unearthed on a large number in Pune

On Thursday, 24th December 2009, some workers were digging a trench to lay a water pipeline in the Khadakmal Aali area near Swargate in Pune, Maharashtra. Soon they started getting the cannonballs. At the end of the day more than eight hundred cannonballs were recovered, each weighing about 700-800 gm. Many more were also found on the following days and finally the number went to nearly two thousand nine hundred and seventy seven.
It is understood that Nanasaheb Peshwa had established an artillery workshop in Khadakmal area of the city under the supervision of Sardar Bheevrao Panse, who was heading the Peshwa’s artillery. Available references show that a British officer, Captain Gordon had visited the workshop in June 1739. He later wrote to his seniors about the Marathas having acquired the technique of making and using cannons and cannon balls. Later on, the British closed down the workshop in around 1824 and the place was converted into a prison. A few cannonballs had been recovered from this area about 15 years ago. But is difficult to tell who had collected so many cannonballs at this place.

Bamiyan like sculptures of the Buddha found in Ladakh

Officials of the archives, archaeology and museums department of Jammu and Kashmir have discovered ancient rock – cut sculptures of the Buddha in the Zanskar area in Ladakh region. These sculptures resemble the huge sculptures at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. These sculptures were probably made in c. 5th – 6th century C.E. These findings are being studied by the scholars in the field.