Ancient · Buddhist · India

Pitalkhora Caves

पितळखोरे लेणी

Kannad, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra · 20.3135°, 74.9942°

Gautama Buddha (chaityas and viharas)UndeterminedRock-cut

Sacred since

300 BCE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

3rd c. BCE onwards

Undetermined

History & significance

Fourteen basalt cave monuments in two groups, four chaityas and ten viharas, counted among the earliest rock-cut architecture in India and lying about forty kilometres from Ellora. Inscriptions here range from roughly 250 BCE to the third and fourth centuries CE and later Mahayana paintings survive; the carved elephants, soldier figures and a damaged Gaja Lakshmi, together with an ancient rainwater harvesting system, helped establish the chronology of the wider Ajanta–Ellora region.

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