Ramling

The cave temple of Ramling is on the side of a rocky hill. The chief cave was originally nearly twelve feet square, but three quarters of it have been turned into a cistern five feet deep. At the inner end of the temple are a rock-carved ling and a Lord Ganesh from which water always trickles. Before they can reach the ling, worshippers have generally to pass through three or four feet of water.

Outside the cave-mouth a massive Hemadpanti structure thirteen feet square rests on stone pillars. By the side of the main cave is a row of seven small cells dedicated to the seven Puranic sages or sapta risis. Near the temple are several unfailing springs, of which the Nilaganga or Blue Ganges and the Papanashini (sin-destroyer) are tirth’s or sacred pools. The position of the ling and the Ganesh seems to show that the caves are Buddhist or Jain and have been adopted for Brahmanic worship.