KANHERI - THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF AN EARLY BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE CENTER IN WESTERN INDIA

The Buddhist site of Kanheri on the west coast of India continued to r eceive patronage from the first to the tenth centuries AD. This was in the form of money and land donations in the early centuries of the Ch ristian era, whereas, in the early medieval period, the pilgrims built votive stupas of brick. Enshrined within these stupas were relic cask ets and copper plates or stone tablets bearing the Buddhist creed. Man y of these stone tablets have been found at early centres in Southeast Asia, together with sealings of unbaked clay and small votive stupas, and no doubt provide archaeological evidence of the pilgrim traffic b y sea between South and Southeast Asia.