Manmodi Caves

The Manmodi Caves are rock-cut excavations on Manmodi hill, roughly 3 km south of Junnar in Pune district, one of several cave sites around the town along with Shivneri, Tulja and Lenyadri. Scholars think they stood on old trade routes that climbed through the passes from the coast onto the basalt plateau of the Western Ghats. The caves fall into three groups, Bhutalinga, Amba-Ambika and Bhimasankar, the last carrying an inscription of Ayama, a minister of the Western Satrap Nahapana, dated 124 CE.

The Bhutalinga group holds an unfinished chaitya hall, probably abandoned because of a soft layer in the rock. Above its door, a lotus split into seven petal-shaped panels shows Sri Lakshmi flanked by elephants holding water-jars, with worshippers on either side, and a Brahmi inscription records the façade as the gift of a Yavana named Chanda. Higher up the rock are four cells with carved chaitya-arch doorways and small stupas in relief.