spotting opportunity in local resentment politicians of every colour organised a protest march against the proposed eviction at jogeshwari caves which is most densely covered by human habitation no less than 120 caves have been discovered and many more treasures perhaps lie in wait this cave which houses a small temple to this day was also built in the 6th century we are already destroying our recent 19th and 20thcentury heritage mahakali fenced away from encroachers this buddhist cave nevertheless must be continuously protected from hutments that come up along the boundary in fact an asi official who was unaware of their existence felt that ranekothare actually meant mahakali in andheri not magathane in borivli an asi official said the legal machinery is moving to clear the jogeshwari caves for these are the worst affected shops that border it are being made to relocate and a small garden is being designed in front of course this 6th century monument has been steadily defaced by encroachment neglect and misuse mumbai is nothing sacred wonders heritage activist sharada dwivedi while mourning the plight of the buddhist magathane caves that were rediscovered by fellow historian anita ranekothare two years ago believed to be the hideaway of the pandavas during their exile the jogeshwari caves are now home to 40000odd settlers who discharge effluents into its six holy temples through the year but steadfastly come to worship on mahashivratri day activists who have taken up the cause of cave sites like at magathane jogeshwari mahakali mandapeshwar and kanheri are usually thwarted by a combination of political interference and a philistine administration over a year later the survey is complete and narasimhan no longer holds the fort asi has a new chief madan singh chauhan who took over on july 1 and is familiarising himself with the list of monuments under his care because the encroachments all came up before 1992 the 100metre boundary stipulated under asi guidelines does not apply to them jogeshwari a series of bumps upon the forehead of these caves was once a detailed carving of lord shivas marriage with parvati historian anita ranekothare points out that kanheri was the biggest university in western india during its heydayfrom the first century bc to the 11th century ad mandapeshwar located in the belly of the ic church in borivli these shaivite caves have begun to be cleared but i will not be deterred because i am fighting for a cause ranekothare said it is the single largest buddhist site in the country she adds the advisory committee has recommended a minimum intervention area of 30 metres so all structures within this limit only will be removed it may be recalled that a plea by ngo janhit manch had prompted the bombay high court to order the clearing of encroachments at four cave sites managed by the asi the complex has cemeteries stupas and chaitya halls dwivedi was part of a special committee that had studied four historic caves in mumbai after a