#Pandavcaves #Nashikcaves #Caves #Nashik #pandav #lenicaves #buddhacaves

The Nasik Caves, or sometimes Pandavleni Caves (or Pandu Lena, Pandu Caves or Trirashmi Leni, Trirashmi being the name of the hills in which the caves are located, Leni being a Marathi word for caves), are a group of 24 caves carved between the 1st century BCE and the 3nd century CE, though additional sculptures were added up to about the 6th century, reflecting changes in Buddhist devotional practices mainly.Buddhist sculptures are a significant group of early examples of Indian rock-cut architecture initially representing the Hinayana tradition. Most of the caves are viharas except for Cave 18 which is a chaitya of the 1st century BCE. The style of some of the elaborate pillars or columns, for example in caves 3 and 10, is an important example of the development of the form The location of the caves is a holy Buddhist site and is located about 8 km south of the center of Nashik (or Nasik), Maharashtra, India, as well as some of the inscriptions of cave 3 and 10 contain one of the earliest known Sanskrit inscriptions about charities towards Hindu Brahmanas at the Prabhasa. Cave 11 has Jain sculptures which includes 22nd Jain Tirthanakra Neminatha, Yakshi Ambika and Indra. These sculptures are of late Jaina workmanship.