Half Day trip from Pune to Karla caves and Ekvira Devi Temple
Half Day trip from Pune to Karla caves and Ekvira Devi Temple
Distance: 40km (approx)Entrance Toll: 30rs
Best time to Visit: Rainy season or winter.
Parking and traffic: There is no good facility of parking there and in peak hours you will certainly get struck in traffic.
Karla Caves and Ekvira Devi Temple are at the same place. Ekvira devi is worshipped by fisherman community. There are 350 steps which takes approx 30 min to climb. On the climb of steps there are number of shops, stalls selling all types of necessities like butter milk, lemonade, corn, tea, colddrinks, eatables etc.
We visited on Sunday so it was very crowded mostly because of the famous temple. The view from the above is amazing.
We visited on Sunday so it was very crowded mostly because of the famous temple. The view from the above is amazing.
Caves are open for all days till 5pm. Cave visiting ticket for Indian is 15rs per person and for foreigner 200rs per person. You can visit Ekvira temple even after 5.30pm. Photography is allowed free of charge.
The cave was build by cutting the rock of mountain. Out of 16, only two caves are opened for public. I think government should focus and put efforts for reopen the other caves.
The caves which are closed are mainly Vihāras i.e. rooms in which Buddhist Monks used to live. The main cave is Chaitya i.e. worship place where all monks used to do prayers. The stupa and Buddhist architecture gives wonderful feel. There are wooden frames inside the hall, people say those are made for reducing echo in the big hall. Like many such ancient architectures, this is also not maintained well. Bhaja caves are better and era of both caves are nearly similar.
The caves which are closed are mainly Vihāras i.e. rooms in which Buddhist Monks used to live. The main cave is Chaitya i.e. worship place where all monks used to do prayers. The stupa and Buddhist architecture gives wonderful feel. There are wooden frames inside the hall, people say those are made for reducing echo in the big hall. Like many such ancient architectures, this is also not maintained well. Bhaja caves are better and era of both caves are nearly similar.
This place is polluted by the visitors and locals. Really sad to see plastic and other waste filled in the areas near the rock pathway to the caves. Usage of plastic must be banned here. Seen high amount of plastic is deposited on the hill.
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| Temple at starting point |
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| Temple at half way |
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| View from top |
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