Me Sahyadri April 2017

As the economic development has taken the center stage, the balance between the environmental sustenance and socio economic development will be under the scanner. As most experts with balanced views have proclaimed, Indian wildlife and ecological system sustenance will be under threat, unless precautions are taken with the help of appropriate research and long term national interests. As we encounter the economic development, many habitats which indirectly or directly help sustainable development will be damaged. The awareness to gauge the success by sustainable development and not by year to year growth is a distant dream any environmentalist will assume in current scenario.
Western ghats, or Sahyadri as we all call it as, is a treasure trove of spectacular landscapes, biodiversity, flora, fauna, some amazing geological wonders and man made monuments. With the increasing pressure from human encroachment, all these elements are under stress and in turn are under depletion. Western ghats should be left untouched by human beings, to protect their future generations from getting short of resources, such as water, energy and clean air. The important elements of western ghats, which need protection are highlighted in the new version of Photo journal, Me Sahyadri Magazine.

The western India, particularly the state of Maharashtra has many rocks cut caves, made in volcanic basalt rock spurs of Western Ghats and Deccan plateau. These caves are very important archeological monuments of the classical India. As a layman visitor to these caves, I encountered many interesting aspects of these caves. Often these aspects posed several questions in my mind. Here in this photoessay series I have compiled some of the interesting observations and questions, in the form of photographs and brief text. The photograph shown is a rock cut “Chaityagriha” at the Buddhist cave, on a hill near village Bedse, in the pawana river basin, Deccan plateau, and west of Pune. Gautama Buddha (c. 563 BCE/480 BCE – c. 483 BCE/400 BCE) is the primary figure in Buddhism. He was philosopher, and an enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help the people to end the suffering. During the classical period, followers of Gautam Buddha spread his teachings to the central, east and South Asia and were largely successful in doing so. Several monasteries were built across the region in that era. Today we can see few of the monasteries from that era in India. The rock cut Buddhist monasteries or caves withstood the test of time, as compared to the monasteries and temples made out of brick and wood in the most other parts of India.

The “Chaityagriha” shown in the photograph is a Buddhist prayer hall or shrine. The Chaityagriha has a “Stupa”, a rock cut semispherical dome on cylinder. It is an architectural structure. It is one of the most important type of monument of Buddhism. Prior to the emergence of Buddhism from prehistoric times, burial mounds containing relics of ancestors were made. The importance of the stupa as a symbol of Buddha and enlightenment gradually increased, during and after Mauryan Emperor Ashoka reign. (c. 268 – c. 232 BCE). Bedse caves are supposed to have been carved out in early part of 1st century BCE, during Hinayana period. There are many noteworthy features of the architecture in these caves. The caves and Chaitya faces east, reducing the impact of wing and rains in monsoon. The Chaityagriha has apsidal (semicircular) roof with a tall verandah and rock façade. The double cylinder monolithic stupa in chaityagriha is the only stupa in western Indian caves with three Vedika ornamentation strips. The stupa has vertically inclined surface. The stump on Stupa has unique design.

The essence of Buddha’s teachings has been described as four noble truths. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. The fourth noble truth lists the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the noble eightfold path. The steps of the noble eightfold path are right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Path is divided in to three themes, good moral conduct, meditation and mental and wisdom or insight.

The mathematical proportion in architecture of Bedse Chaityagriha is worth noting. The total breadth of the hall is exactly same to the total height of the hall from floor to apex of roof. The height of hall pillars is exactly half of the total height of the hall. The distance between the entrance and stupa front is exactly 1.5 times that of the breadth. The stupa diameter is exactly one third of the breadth of the hall. The hemisphere is perfect hemisphere having height same as radius (half diameter). The capital is same in height as hemisphere. And the cave face is aligned almost perfectly to east.

The Bedse Chaitygriha is small compact but wonderfully proportionate. The essence of Buddha’s teachings has been described as four noble truths. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. The fourth noble truth lists the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the noble eightfold path. The steps of the noble eightfold path are right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Path is divided in to three themes, good moral conduct, meditation and mental and wisdom or insight.

Indian pitta is seen in broad leaved forest. It is 19 cm in size. The bird breeds in Himalaya and north east India and winters in South India, Konkan and Srilanka. The bird is seen at the base of western ghats, Konkan in Maharashtra.