Two of the finest rock-cut Buddhist monuments in India, carved into the basalt cliffs of the Western Ghats about 10 km from Lonavala. Both date to the 2nd century BCE — among the oldest surviving examples of this tradition anywhere.
Karla has the greater architectural drama: its chaitya hall (prayer hall) is one of the largest surviving rock-cut chaityas in the subcontinent, with a soaring vaulted interior, a carved wooden horseshoe window that floods the nave with light, and rows of octagonal columns topped with kneeling elephants bearing male-and-female rider pairs. The scale and craftsmanship are extraordinary for any period, let alone one more than two millennia ago. A later Hindu shrine to Ekvira Devi has been inserted at the entrance — an incongruous overlay, but the cave behind it is still magnificent.
Bhaja is smaller and quieter, with a chaitya hall and a cluster of viharas (monk cells) that show how the earliest Buddhist communities organised their monastic life into the living rock. A group of relief carvings near the viharas — including a figure riding an elephant, trampling demons — are some of the liveliest sculpture from this period.
Hire a car or taxi from Lonavala; they are not easily reached by auto. You can visit both in a half-day. Each site has a small Archaeological Survey of India entry fee.