Buddhist Sites

-| Sana | -

Location: District Junagarh (Gujrat) - Lat 20º 36'N, Long 70º 10'E

The remains of the Buddhist establishment of Sana is located 24 kms. northeast of Una railway station. There are nearly 60 caves on the three spurs around the three sides of an elevated plateau which slopes sharply down to the stream of Rupen river on the west. The caves were excavated at different heights of the spurs, mostly approached by rock-cut stairs. Considerable attention was paid towards water harvesting and the supply of water was augmented by excavating the caves with a fairly large number of tanks with small oblong mouths having rock-cut walls on three sides. The similar system of preserving water had been made in Kanheri caves near Bombay (Maharashtra).

The caves are marked by an austere simplicity and complete absence of sculptures. There are three chaitya-grihas. All of them are apsidal halls with flat ceilings. Two of them, cave 13 and cave 26 have a long veranda with plain pillars resting on a raised basement and supporting a beam below the flat ceiling, while the third has a deep veranda or porch now completely open in the front. The monasteries provide some significant features. They consist of a pillared veranda usually with one or two cells at the back and very rarely three or four cells. The plan of cave 48 is a different one. There are two halls of unusually large dimension. Around the halls are benches. The cave has a central door and a single cell on the dexture and is fronted by a long veranda with having a recess at either end.

The pillars and pilasters of one of the caves are connected by back rests. These caves provide a beautiful scenery all around.

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