Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

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Ancient · Buddhist · India

Panhalakaji Caves

पन्हाळेकाजी लेणी

Panhalekaji, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra · 17.6457°, 73.2451°

Stupas and Vajrayana figures including Akshobhya and Mahachandaroshana, with Shiva and Nath Panth images in the later cavesSilahara in the later phase—
Sacred since
200 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
3rd c. CE Hinayana beginnings; Vajrayana work in the 10th-11th c.
Silahara in the later phase

History & significance

About thirty caves in Ratnagiri district, some 160 km south of Mumbai, begun by Hinayana Buddhists in the third century with the stupa in Cave 5 and taken over by Vajrayana Buddhists who cut Cave 10 in the tenth or eleventh century. Shaiva and Nath Panth worship followed under the Silaharas, making the group a rare record of successive sects at one site.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Silahara in the later phase