Rock cut Panhalakaji Caves.
Rock cut Panhalakaji Caves. During 1970-71, a farmer named 'Keshavrao Pandurang Jadhav' of Panhale village, while plowing his field, found a stone box with metal letters stuck to the plow. The study revealed that the copper plates belong to the Shilahar period. In 1972, the Archaeological Survey of India excavated the site where the copper plates were found and uncovered a group of 28 caves completely hidden under the silt of the Kotjai River. Panhalakaji Caves are situated in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra state, about 160 km south of Mumbai, on the right bank of mountain stream Kotjai. This cave complex has 29 Buddhist caves. The Hinayana sect began carving caves in 3rd century AD, beginning with the stupa in the current Cave 5. The caves have inscriptions in Dhamma and Devanagari script. In the 10-11th century AD another Buddhist group, a Vajrayana sect, established cave 10 with their deities Akshobhya and Mahachandaroshana; and strengthened their practice in that reg...