Ajanta and Ellora caves

Ajanta Caves

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ajanta caves are rock cut Buddhist cave monuments located about 100 kms from Aurangabad. They are believed to have been built in phases between 2^ndcentury BCE and 5^thcentury CE.

Drive from Aurangabad

It takes about 2.5 hours by road from Aurangabad. It is a 2 lane road which restricts speed at which one can drive. The drive itself is not very scenic except towards the end where a hill has to be crossed. The parking lot is fairly large, though it appeared to be a bit disorganized.

From the parking lot, I walked through a maze of shops selling artifacts, paintings, Buddha sculptures, ornaments and souvenirs and small restaurants before getting to the bus stop from where a bus takes you to the base of the Ajanta caves. But I did not like being continuously pestered by the shopkeepers. One has to pass through the shops on both onward and return journey.

At the bus stop, I noted there are ordinary buses and deluxe buses. The number of deluxe buses is limited and hence do not wait for it. Good thing is there is Q system here. The road to the caves is not good and it is almost a bone rattling drive for about 15 minutes. But on the return, unfortunately, there is no Q system. As soon as the bus arrives, people rush but luckily, the conductor issues ticket at the door before one boards the bus and this ensures semblance of order.

There is another hill to climb before getting to the cave complex. It is not strenuous but help is available for those who need it.

All caves are carved out of single hill

All the cave monuments, about 30 of them, are located together in a single hill and formed a Buddhist monastery comprising worship halls and sleeping quarters. The paintings and sculptures, all hand crafted, in some of the caves look wonderful even today. Few of the caves are just out of this world and that will be apparent by the long queues in front. The notable caves include the following:

Caves 1 and 2 where paintings cover the walls, ceilings and pillars.

Cave 4 was a monastery.

Cave 6, a two storied monastery

Cave 16 that contains numerous paintings

Cave 19 and 26 prayer halls with elaborate sculptures

Avoid skipping any cave

It would be good not to skip any of the caves. For a casual visitor, about 3 hours, with a short break in between, is good to go to every cave and return…it is a long walk, up and down, and generally crowded. If you are interested in history, consider engaging an official guide or buy the printed booklet at the parking lot. You don’t need to find the boys selling them, they will find you!

I found quite a few oriental tourists at the cave complex and at one of the worship halls, a group was actually singing prayers.

Ellora caves

One of the largest rock cut monastery-temple-cave complexes in the world, Ellora caves is located about 30 kms from Aurangabad. It took me about 45 minutes to get there. Ellora caves too is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and of more recent origin than Ajanta caves, and believed to have been built between 6^thcentury and 10^thcentury CE.

Luckily, despite the crowd, the waiting time before the ticket counter was not much. There are over 30 caves open to the public.

There are Hindu, Buddhist and Jain monuments but many of the idols, carvings and paintings are damaged. Despite this, the grandeur of this complex has to be seen to be believed.

The entry leads to the Kailash Temple. I first covered the temples to the right, came back to Kailash temple and then took a bus to the Jain caves on the left side.

The Jain caves and Chota Kailash are little away from the main complex and a bus plies regularly up and down to ferry visitors.

The key attraction is cave 16, the Kailash Temple which was carved out of a single rock.