Ellora and Ajanta Caves - Wonders that never cease to excite

Many would have visited the Ajanta and Ellora caves and I am sure there are many blog posts already on how amazing these caves are. I am not sure if this post adds much of a new information to what is available already. But, having visited the place recently, I want to document my amazing experience. So, here you go.

REACHING THERE: Ellora and Ajanta represent a series of caves in Maharashtra in Western India. The nearest town is Aurangabad. Aurangabad is relatively well connected with all major cities around Western India. It is located at a distance of around 215 kms from Pune and over 400 kms from Mumbai. Nashik, a famous religious town is also around 218 kms from Aurangabad. For more on Nashik, visit my previous blog post at http://travelwithguru.blogspot.com/2010/04/nashik-good-old-religious-town.html

Ellora caves are located at a distance of around 30 kms from Aurangabad. Ajanta is a further 100 kms from Ellora. Both these caves can be covered in a day from Aurangabad, provided you remind yourself that you would not spend too much time exploring the beauty of a single cave. It is definitely not without good reason that there are tourists spending a week at each of these wonderful caves to explore it in detail.

ELLORA CAVES: The sheer sight of the Ellora caves leaves you floored. The cave structure is so mighty extending over a significant landscape that you start to wonder where to begin. The signage which point to Cave 1-15 on to your right, Cave 16 straight ahead and Cave 17-36 to your left makes you feel all the more exciting. Yes, you heard it right. 36 caves collectively form the Ellora caves.

What is really intriguing is that the caves represent how well multiple religions thrived in the bygone era. Cave 1-12 belong to Buddhism, Cave 13-29 belong to Hinduism and Cave 30-36 belong to Jainism. But, what do these caves contain?... Well, Ellora is all about wonderful rock carvings. Each cave carries a treasure load of rock-cut sculptures that would leave you dazzled and speechless. These jewels seem to have been constructed over several centuries, some of them dating back to 6th century AD.

The biggest of them all is Cave 16, a monolithic Kailash temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva. The entire temple is supposed to have been carved out a single mountain rock by drilling holes right through. A simple carving out of a rock is by itself a real tough task and to have a full fledged temple carved out of a mountain is something well beyond imagination. How did the kings and craftsmen manage to achieve such a mammoth task in those days with hardly any technological advancement? How many people worked on this project? Who had the glorious vision to shape this wonderful piece of work? All these were some questions that crossed my mind as I kept staring at the entrance to Cave 16, the Kailash temple.

The entrance was gigantic in size, with among others, life size carvings of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu. Once you step inside, you are welcomed with huge statues of gods and goddesses. There is an intricately carved stone pillar on one side and gigantic elephant statue at the other end. To the left, is a two-storeyed cave with huge rock cut statues of goddess Lakshmi. The hall at the upper floor of the cave is huge in size with magnificently worked pillars. Straight on is a series of steps that take you to the sanctum of lord Kailash, an amazing linga. You could move around the sanctum of lord Kailash to find more sculptural wonders.

As you walk around the building of the Kailash temple, you would find the exterior walls filled with exquisite carvings depicting the story of Ramayana and Mahabaratha, apart from depicting numerous other gods and goddesses.

As you move ahead towards the other caves, you are filled with great wonders. We obviously did not have the time to explore all caves in detail. So, we had to take the help of the officials there to suggest us the best caves to visit. They suggested caves 14 and 21 among the Hindu caves. These caves had breathtaking carvings of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganapathy apart from several other mythological characters.

Then, we proceeded towards the Buddhist caves, which had their own charm. The officials suggested not to miss Cave 10. The cave had a huge statue of sitting Buddha in self realisation posture. The hall was well decorated with intricate carvings and had a well-ornamented dome. Then, we visited a few other Buddhist caves that carried various postures of Buddha and images from Jathaka tales. Quite a few of the Buddhist caves were arranged in multiple storeys and most of them seemed to appear like a prayer hall.

The Jain caves from cave 30 to 36 are relatively smaller ones and we quickly covered all of them. Interesting ones among them being cave 30 and cave 32. Cave 30 too is a monolithic temple structure similar to the Kailash temple. Cave 32 is probably the most magnificent of the Jain caves with beautiful sculptures of Mahavir and Tirtankara.

AJANTA CAVES: After immersing ourselves in great architectural splendour at Ellora, we pushed off to the Ajanta caves. Unlike Ellora, your vehicle cannot directly take you to the caves. The caves are located inside the forest, where one cannot take his own vehicle. We need to alight at a particular point from where we are take to the foothills of the cave by a special bus. The journey takes about 20 minutes and is a very interesting ride. The jungle environment definitely adds to the excitement.

Once we descend from the bus, we need to do quite a bit of climbing up the hills to reach the caves. The pathway is a bit steep and long and may not be ideal for the faint hearted. But, once up there, one would realise all the pain was worth it. While Ellora was all about sculptures, Ajanta is all about wonderful mural arts. Unfortunately, unlike Ellora which have stood the test of times, Ajanta cave paintings have deteriorated over time and we see now are sadly only a few shades of masterstroke that still remain. However, having said that, the authorities are doing their best to keep the existing painting remains well-preserved.

Ajanta has a cave structure of 29 caves spread over a vast area. Most of the caves carry a strong Buddhist influence. The caves are supposed to have been excavated between 2nd century BC to 7th century AD and were primarily used by Buddhist monks. However, these caves had been almost forgotten over time, until a British hunter managed to discover them around the 19th century AD.

The first few caves appear to be in better shape compared to the later ones. In order to protect the images from further damage, the caves are mildly lit and flash photography is strictly prohibited. So, the only real way of capturing the beauty there was through my eyes. Although, a touch disappointing to see the murals in the disintegrated state, I could not help fantasising how they would have looked in full splendour. The guides in each of the caves are well knowledgeable and guide you to important aspects that needs to be noticed in the caves.

Overall, a visit to Ajanta and Ellora is architecturally a very rewarding experience and given an option, one should never miss this UNESCO World Heritage wonder.

ADDITIONAL NEAR-BY VISIT: When at Ellora, one should not miss a visit to Grishnesvara Temple. It is one of the 12 jyothirlingas dedicated to Lord Shiva and is located just a few kms away from the Ellora caves. The temple is constructed out of sandstone and has a wonderfully designed vimana that is worth many a clicks. The shiva linga inside is a small one where one could offer pooja directly with milk and flowers.

SCHEDULING YOUR TRIP: The best way to schedule your trip is to reach Aurangabad the night before. You could complete a visit to Nashik and Shirdi and could halt at Aurangabad. The next day, you should be well on time to cover Ajanta and Ellora.

Have a great trip!!!