It seemed, at first, that the Greek presence in India would be fleeting.
The conqueror spent a year and a half in the subcontinent, defeating local kings, subjugating cities, and leaving a string of garrisons in his wake. The Greeks first entered India two centuries before the Karla Caves began to be carved, when Alexander descended into the Punjab at the head of his invincible army. But in six cases, they mention an additional detail: that the donor was a Yavana – a Greek. The inscriptions are terse: name, native place, and little else. High on the pillars, neat lines of Brahmi script commemorate the donors who contributed to the hall’s construction. It plunges deep into the cliff, with a soaring ceiling ribbed with age-blackened teak, the richly ornamented pillars along its walls marching toward the stupa at the distant end, where monks once walked endless circles around a relic of the Buddha.
But when the monsoon shadows the valley, and waterfalls rush from the surrounding cliffs, it’s easy to imagine the solitude that drew Buddhist monks to this place 19 centuries ago.Īlthough there are other Buddhist cave complexes nearby, nothing else in India compares with the Grand Chaitya, or prayer hall, at Karla. On weekends and holidays, when pilgrims crowd the neighbouring temple, the caves echo with footsteps and chatter. Southeast of Mumbai, in a range of rugged hills, a winding path ascends to the mouths of the Karla Caves.
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