A Birthday Trip to the Historic Pandav (Trirashmi) Caves, Nashik

8th March 2026! This birthday was planned to be a short trip to explore the Pandav Caves (Trirashmi Caves) in Nashik. I hadn’t really planned to write about it, but somehow I couldn’t stop myself.

South Indian Breakfast and the Teak Wood Resort

We started on Friday morning, not very early! Our first stop was at Dakshinayan, the restaurant offering authentic south Indian food. We savoured south indian breakfast and started our journey. We took a part of the Samruddhi Expressway to get there. The journey from Mumbai to Nashik felt surprisingly long. We checked into “The Little Cove” resort in Girinare village near Nashik. It’s a small place where all the rooms are designed with teak wood. The room felt a little damp and stuffy, with very little sunlight and heavy teak furniture filling up most of the space. The interiors weren’t exactly cheerful, but the surroundings were quiet and beautiful. You could hear birds chirping all day, which made the place feel peaceful.

Saturday was slow and relaxed, we mostly lazed around at the resort, talking and catching up. The four of us share a strong bond, something very precious, though these days we don’t get to spend time together as often as before.

Climbing the Trirashmi Caves: Ancient Inscriptions and Stone Games

The next morning, we started early and drove to the Trirashmi Caves. It was about an hour’s drive. We reached there to find that the place was already buzzing with people playing Holi. We climbed 200 stairs to reach the hill top.

When we reached the Pandav Leni, also known as the Trirashmi Caves, the first thing that struck me was how quietly they sit on the hill overlooking Nashik. After climbing the long set of steps, you suddenly find yourself in front of these ancient rock-cut caves that were carved almost 2000 years ago, between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE. These caves were once Buddhist monasteries where monks lived and meditated. As we walked through them, the stone pillars, inscriptions, and simple carved spaces made it easy to imagine what life might have been like here centuries ago. I also found it interesting that some inscriptions here are connected to the Satavahana dynasty and the Western Kshatrapas, who ruled parts of this region long ago. One interesting thing we noticed was an inscription carved on the floor. It looked like a game board called “saripaat,” which is quite similar to a Ludo-style game. It was surprising to see something like that inside the caves. We spotted this carved game board in two or three different caves, which makes you wonder if people once sat there and played games while spending time in these spaces. One inscription even mentions Gautami Balashri, the mother of the Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni. Despite the name “Pandav Leni,” the caves actually have nothing to do with the Pandavas. The name probably came later through local stories. Standing there, with the breeze on the hill and the city spread out below, the place felt peaceful and quietly full of history.

Sunday Evening: Cricket, Swimming, and Quiet Conversations

After the climb, we were hungry and decided to have breakfast at a place called Grape Embassy. We then drove to the temple Trambakeshwar. I’m not a very religious person and the commercialisation around the temple and the business-like atmosphere around the place put us off and we decided not to visit the temple. After lunch we drove back to our resort and spent the evening swimming. It was India vs New Zealand T-20 final and the men decided to enjoy the match while I spent some quiet time chatting and painting.

Heading Home

The next morning was peaceful. We had breakfast at our hotel and started our journey back home. These short trips are a great opportunity to pause, unwind, and simply catch up with the people who matter most. It was a reminder that the best birthday gift isn’t a big celebration, but the chance to strengthen our bond, share some interesting history, and enjoy the steady hum of the drive back home.