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‘Beware of
panthers,’ the signboard nailed to a tree warns you in the
Borivli National Park. It also asks you ‘not to linger in the
park after 5.30 p.m.,’ your initial reactions: Aha, panthers in
Bombay? Impossible! They must be joking. If ever there are any in
this over-crowded metropolis they must be pink-like camparidiluted
with soda…
Outside the boundaries of
the National Park you can still hear the roar of traffic and the
bustle from the bazaars dotting the concrete veins and
arteries of suburban Bombay. Borivili station on the Western Railway
is five miles away. On holiday public transport buses run from the
station to the food of the Kandheri caves inside the park. You can
also reach the park from the opposite side – from the Thana
station of Central railway, six miles away; or visit it as park of
the suburban tour offered by the Maharashtra Tourism Development
Corporation.
Your beliefs begin to
change as you go deeper into the park. The arid-looking eucalyptus
and subabul trees planted by the Forest Department give way to
bamboo, sterculia, combretum, rosewood, silk-cottons, strangler figs
and countless other species. Suddenly you realize you are not in a
city anymore, but inside an untamed forest. What’s that
rustling behind that boulder? Don’t be surprised if it’s
leopard or a langur.
Stop right at this
moment. And listen to your own breathing in the still forest, feel
your hammering heartbeats and the cool breeze scented with myriad
smells of the jungle – ripening figs and rotting leaves,
gurgling streams and musky rocks, sunlight and shade – all
strewn together beneath a cloudless blue sky. These are white-backed
vultures, with wingspans longer than your arms’ stretch!
This then is the forest
experience. Tranquil yet full of frisson; soothing yet scary; one
that has the power to put you in touch with yourself (if you have
lost out on that contact, that is). At the most mundane level, it
makes you marvel at the various shades of green a lush ghat or
hill forest can present to the eye.
As you listen to the
thrilling song of the magpie perched high atop a teak tree in the
National Park, think of the generations of urbanites who came in
search of peace to these environs. They were dressed differently of
course and spoke different tongues. Some must have come from as far
away as Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt and Arabia. Some have left
reminders of their search on monuments that have been there for
centuries. I am referring to the Kanheri cave monasteries, in the
heart of the Borivilli National Park.
As you approach the
caves, however, you cannot but become aware of the present times, of
picnickers. But even they fall silent once they begin to climb the
steps chiseled into trappean hills which lie there, riven by deep
ravines and gorges.
Kanheri or Kanhasela as
the two inscriptions from the place have named it, is the biggest
Buddhist monastic establishment on the Konkan coast. The Portuguese
Viceroy, Dom Joao Crasto found it … “so wonderful that it
may be ranked among the seven wonders of the world, unless, instead
of thinking of them to be the work of men, we attribute them to
spirits and the diabolic art of which, I, at least, have no doubt.”
Dom Crasto could not
obviously read the Pali inscriptions at Kanheri. Nor would he have
known that the architectural activity at Kanheri began three
centuries before Christ was born – almost immediately after the
introduction of Buddhism in this region. The first simple caves were
excavated during the reign of the Satvahana kings who came to the
fore after the disintegration of the Mauryan empire in India. In the
earliest period the caves were meant to shelter wandering monks
during the rainy season. At this time vault-roofed chetiyaghara
were in vogue. These are sanctuaries having a stupa as the object of
worship. These primitive creations – an undecorated cylindrical
drum with a slightly high dome – were made to house the relics
of the Buddha or other masters of the order. Woodwork was also used
extensively in the monuments. From the 1st century A.D.,
the caves appear to have been in occupation throughout the year. The
monks were provided with cells with stone benches to sleep, along
with accessories like a large number of cisterns, refectories and
even bathing facilitates. Food, medicine and clothing appear to have
been stored. The huge chetiyaghara must have been added
during the reign of Gautamiputra Satakarni (A.D. 106-130).
Unprecedented in dimension and beauty, the first of its kind on the
Konkan coast, it began to attract numbers of monks and laymen alike.
A large number of donations appear to have been made by citizens,
traders, royal women, even foreigners (yavanas) from nearby
cities like Kalyana, Sopara and Thane.
However the latter part
of the 3rd century A.D. was the most active period of the
Kanheri establishment with numerous of cells being added. It is even
suggested that kanheri was a school, with 60 to 70 monks in residence
and had dining rooms capable of catering to 120 diners!
An unusual feature at
Kanheri is the number of open benches cut into rocks and almost all
the caves have benches in their verandahs or front courts. Sit down
on one of these. And you realize their purpose at once: with the
evening breeze refreshing you from the sea, you might feel “your
infinitesimal self dissolving into the infinite nature around.”
So enjoyable is this calm contemplation of nature, far from the
madding crowd, that you’ll want to stay on for the night. But
as the shadows lengthen over the forest, think of the panthers.
Should you want to see them, you can stay put at the forest bungalows
at the base camp and wait with nightjars, owls and bats beneath the
nayan tree under a full moon. That may not still guarantee you an
audience with the elusive cat. If on the other hand you have a dog
with you, do be very careful. Because panthers just love them…
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