At a glance :

Region : Maharashtra, Lonavala

Examine :  Buddhist Architecture

These caves are very much old; it is around two thousand years old construction. But trekker's find it easy in trekking and while you can see this very old architecture of Buddhist. All the earlier rock cuts of the Buddhist religion were found in the entire Sahyadri Mountain. All this founded rock cuts were served and they made it along with the region's earlier routes of trade, which was using as connection with the inland towns. Within these routes, on one route, which is known as Bhor Ghat which connecting the Karla and Kalyan, on this way, there are numbers of nice examples of the caves, which you can easily see. You can see 3 examples of Buddhist architecture. There is Buddhist Hinyana faith which shows the pure doctrine of the Buddha, before Buddha's high standing that shows in the fewer images of the Lord Buddha caves such as Bhaja, Bedsa and Karla. Each cave contains major hall of prayer or it was called as Chaitya and the rest place include Viharas means halls for resident.  Rocks craved by the Cisterns are filled by the springs which are at underground and also rainwater; the caves other architecture is showcase the different and unique skills of engineering.

At the beginning of the trek, first reach to the station of Kamshet through train; you can come from any where between these two Lonavala and Pune. After reaching at the Kamshet, you can take jeep or else you can take a bus, which will drop you at the Bedsa Village. If any one would like to walk then starts walking from the Pune Bombay highway, turn on the left side of the station and after that take a raod which is leading ahead to the Kale colony and Pawna dam. You have to continuously walk on this road for around twelve kilometer, till you will reach at the village of Bedsa. After reaching at the village of Bedsa, you will get the total view of the Bedsa caves. After one village, the trail starts moving towards the second village and after that on the base of the hill, which is follow by the twenty minutes climb over the caves. Avoid going at this place in the season of monsoon, in the month of the June September because during this season, because of the heavy rain, the path of this caves get slippery. At these caves, you won't get any facility, not even drinking water, but there is tank which has cool water. If you are planning to camp in the village, then you have to carefully carry all the needful things.

Within the Bedsa Caves, it has very unusual feature that is mass of rock. It is on the front side of the Chaitya, because of this main façade gets hide. There are 2 pillars in the entry, which create a very effective impression of the earlier locations of the worship. There are sculptures of the animals and crowns on the pillars, which is very much similar to the popular caves which are known as Sanchi Stupa. The caves are architecturally very rich and beautiful but bad thing is that these caves are not maintained properly.

Around this place, you can also go for the long journey trek on the near by hills such as Shivaji's fort or Kalsubai, this is the highest peak of the state Maharashtra and Aritechwar or Randha fall, this is very ancient temple, about one thousand two hundred years. There are plenty of forts which offer you good structure, which supports trekking activities. If you will go ahead on the Pune side, you will find many trekking forts like Lohagad, Purandar, Sinhgad, Raigad, Visapur, Shivneri etc. these are some forts. There are some more famous forts available for you such as Panhala which near to Kolhapur, Pratapgarh it is near to Mahabaleshwar and Torna which near to Bhor. In Maharashtra state, there are several institutions and clubs which organize the trekking trips on these famous forts.