#buddhistcaves

I don't have a lot of pictures but during the Mughal period, when India was the center of Sufism, a "saint" Shah Allah Ditta stayed in this garden and was entombed here.

Believed to be 2,400 years old, the caves have been used by Buddhist monks, Hindu sadhus and Muslim ascetics.

Historically, the caves are located along an ancient road. Over time, this road disappeared. Its remnants exist as the GT or Grand Trunk Road - when the city of Rawalpindi came into being in the 16th century, this road was used to travel directly from Kabul, Peshawar, Attock and Hassan Abdal to Rawalpindi and from there to Lahore and Delhi.

Some people to have stopped at the cold springs here at some time or another; Panini (a Sanskrit grammarian), Alexander of Macedon, Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka, Kautilya Chanakya, Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti, Data Ali Hujwiri, Sher Shah Suri and Mughal Jahangir.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the location where Alexander arrived and was received by Raja Ambi, King of Taxila, is marked on the ground near the caves. I read this somewhere and cannot verify.

The temples' pond is said in the Puranas to have been created from the teardrops of Shiva, after he wandered the Earth inconsolable after the death of his wife Sati

Also mentioned in the Hindu epic poem, the Mahābhārata, these temples are traditionally believed to have been the site where the Pandava brothers spent a significant portion of their exile

Though in very decent shape considering how old they are, one will find graffiti left by visitors who carve out their names and phone numbers on the walls throughout the interior and exterior of the buildings. You would think that'd make it easier for the authorities to track them down?

Across the street are more Buddhist structures and caves that date back to prehistoric times. They are large enough for you to enter and quite deep. If you shine a light around inside, you can see marine fossils protruding out of the rocks

Dunhuang

Without a doubt, the best Buddhist cave day yet - at Mogao! An amazing space-age (sand dune shaped) visitor centre with a 3D film showing the history of the caves and their position and creation along the Silk Road. We were shown round by our English speaking guide (therefore no sneaky photos allowed!) - shown inside a selection of the very best caves. The best parts were the beautiful thousand Buddha walls, the hidden vault and the giant accidental ‘black buddha’. Even though the guide said her favourite caves were Maiji Shān (a few blogs back), we had found our favourite caves! We walked out onto the dunes behind and caught a sandy glimpse of caves carved into rock, amidst leaf less trees, dunes and abandoned little watch towers.

The next day we got ourselves to the singing dunes out of town. The weather was pants (smoggy so you couldn't see much more than 10m in front of you)... So, rather than paying in, we went in search of the free way into the dunes that we had read about online...