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Site: Location and Importance dated to 1184 CE (Dikshit 1941-42). The site was apparently the capital seat of the Abhira family.
Other architectural remains
The village abounds in structural remains such as temple parts like pillars, uttaranga of doorway, mandaraka, pillar brackets with kichaka figures etc. Some of the parts are even used in present day houses, mostly as steps and sometimes above the doorway. There is a large Nandi figure lying in the midst of the village. To the east of the village is a small, modern structure with domed roof. In front of this structure, a number of broken pieces of icons are kept. Of these, some like Siva-Parvati. Visnu and a goddess can be identified. There is one broken piece of a Jina image. Though the head, legs and arms have disappeared, the srivatsa and the nudity make it clear that it is a Jina icon. To the west of the village is a huge arched gateway, apparently of the Muslim period, flanked by ruined towers. But the pillars used in the gateway are of a Brahmanical temple. At least, eight pillars can be seen.
The hill to the east of the village is fortified, strengthened at places by masonry constructions with an entrance on the southern face. There are several cisterns and four large storerooms, cut in the rock and a number of ruined bastions as well as gateways inside the fort (Dhule District Gazetteer 1974: 794-795). On one of the bastions of the fort, there is a small inscription in Devanagari and a local dialect, dated to Vikrama 1630 (Narasimhaswami 1961-62: No. 466). There are a number of caves at different levels, most of them overlooking the village. While most of them are plain, a series of caves are quite ornamental. One of these caves has a long verandah and three shrines in its backwall and one shrine in the right end. The shrines have doorways with plain doorjambs and dedicatory blocks and kumbhavāhinis on the pedyā in some cases, while the verandah and the shrines have ornamental pillars. These caves are locally known as Gavali Raja's houses.
In the village, there are remains of old stone palace with two entrance gates, a well supposed to have been built by Ahalyabai Holkar and a ruined mosque. About a kilometre south of the village, in the middle of the fields, there is a small temple. The village appears to have been enclosed by stonewall as the ruins at some places suggest.
Thus, it is clear that at least from the 12th century CE the town had been an important centre. The temple remains, icons and caves inside the fort can be stylistically dated to the Yadava period, while the arched gateway, palace, mosque and the small temple in the field belong to the Muslim-Maratha period. The fort was also probably built during this period.
The site was chosen for its prominent position and the existence of the large town. Jainism was quite popular in the area around the site. Balsane, about 11 km north of Bhamer was an important religious centre as attested by a cluster of eight Brahmanical temples and a matha with an inscription (Cousens 1931: 23-27). Jainism too was a strong force here as attested by the find of a beautiful and elaborate icon of Vimalanatha, the thirteenth tirthankara, now housed in Vimalanatha temple. The icon can be dated the 12th_ 13th century CE.
