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Banoti is a village in the Soegaon taluka of Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. It is nearly 50 km from the famous Ajanta caves, and equidistant from the Ghatotkacha caves that lies near the Janjala village.
There is one rock-cut edifice near a waterfall, some 5 km from the Banoti village. This involves walking on foot.
It appears that the Banoti rock-cut edifice was begun during the late fifth century CE and was re-worked in the later periods. It may have begun during the second phase of Ajanta caves. It appears that it was originally a Buddhist temple judged by the presence of the Buddhist decorative figures and motifs on the door-frames and pillar capitals.
A Nataraja-like image on the right pilaster indicates that there may have been an attempt to convert the edifice into a Hindu temple.
The site is less accessible and poorly studied.
Text and photographs: Rajesh Kumar Singh.