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Site: Location and Importance
299 1300m and 1294m respectively and that the Anjaneri hill is surmounted by a rock, which resembles a couching lion, must have added to the sanctity of the place.
At present, none of the Jaina or Brahmanical temples or the Jaina cave are worshipped, though some attempts are made to revive the site as a Jaina centre. Today, the site is only known for its temple of Anjani devi, which is under worship.
The area was protected by a series of forts, including those at Tryambakesvara and Anjaneri. This cluster of fourteen forts with Tryambakesvara as the main fort commanded the routes leading southwards and provided protection to upper Konkan. (Naravane 1995: 69-70).
Thus, the site was chosen mainly because of its sacred nature. The added advantages were strategic location and the existence of a large commercial town. In fact, all the factors were closely inter-related, which helped in the development of the site. The Jaina cave is excavated on the face of a very high cleft with two perpendicular scarps facing each other. The location was perhaps chosen due to the availability of proper rock face and more because it is on the way to the hill above, the path, which seems to have been used from ancient times.
ANKAI-TANKAI
The Jaina caves at Ankai-Tankai date from the 12th century CE. The region formed part of the Mulaka janapada during Satavahanas (Mahajan 1989: 73). It is not clear in which region the site fell in subsequent period, but it could have been included in Kundalikamala vişaya during Chalukyas, Udvalaula 24 during Rashtrakutas and Seunadesa during Yadavas, mentioned in their inscriptions (Mahajan 1989: 101, 131, 184-186). There is only one fragmentary Yadava period inscription from the site, which does not provide much information. No other inscription mentions the site.
Literary references
There are not many literary references to the site. Those available are of much later period. The site is mentioned in the 47th verse of 17th century text 'Meghduta samsya lekh' by Meghvijaya. He gives information about the geographical features of the region between Aurangabad to Divabandar. There is a reference to 'AnakiTanki' fort and it is said that Parsvanātha visited this place and so it is very sacred (Shah 1941: 429). Anki Tanki forts are also mentioned in Badshah Nama of Abdul Hamid Lahori (died in 1654 CE) in the context of exploits of Khan Khanan, who captured them in 1635 CE. Two unfortified hills of Alka Palka, near Ankai-Tankai are also mentioned (Elliot and Dowson 1877: 57).
Other architectural remains
Apart from ten Jaina caves, there are three more Brahmanical caves on the hill. Of these, two are very rough, small and devoid of any ornamentation, while one is a large Saivite cave, somewhat of the type of small late Saivite shrines at Ellora. These are earlier than the Jaina caves at the site and are dated to the 10th 11th century CE (Fergusson and Burgess 1880: 480).
