Ajanta and Ellora Caves
28.02 - 03.03.2008
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After loads of work, Michael took some days free so we decided to use this
to enrich our cultural experience in India by visiting the World Heritage
Sites of Ajanta and Ellora Caves. For this some need to reach the town of
Aurangabad 400 Km east of Mumbai from where is easy to organise the trips to
the caves. Ajanta are Budhist caves dating from 200 BC and 650 AD.
There are 30 caves cut in rock and they are decorated with rich paintings and
elaborate carvings. The paintings are about daily life of that time, the life of
Budha or simply geometric and floral patterns. In every temple is a huge
statue of Budha and in few of them there are also detailed carvings about
his life.
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Ajanta Caves are cut in the rock face of a horseshoe-shaped gorge
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One of Budha statues
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The Budhist caves of Ajanta have some good preserved wall paintings, some over 2000 years old
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Fine paintings and carving decorate most of the caves
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Religious sculptures
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Budha
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Ceiling paintings
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Inside a temple
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Another example of the good preserved fine paintings
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Temple facade |
Carvings inside a temple depicting the life of Budha |
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Temple |
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Reclining Budha |
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Temple
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Way of going around the caves by chair...
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Lonar Meteorite Crater is 2Km in diameter and 170m deep. At the bottom is a lake and several temples. To reach the crater is 3 hours drive from Aurangabad, to climb down and up you need a bit of fitness and strenght to beat the heat |
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Monkey in a temple on the lake shore
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Another temple in the crater
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Small shop-restaurant near the crater
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The road to Aurangabad
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The 14th century Daulatabad fortress close to Aurangabad is worth a visit
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Bats in the fortress
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6m long cannon |
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Tower of the Moon built in 15th century is 60m high
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The Ellora has a mix of Budhist, Hindu and Jain caves, from which the Budhist are the oldest (600-800 AD) and the Jain are the newest (800-1000AD). The most impressive ist the Kailasa Temple, the world largest monolithic sculpture carved from the rock by 7000 labourers over 150 years period.
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Ellora caves
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Temple cut in rock
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Budhist cave |
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Cave with teaching Budha
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Hindu cave (unfinished) |
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Budhist cave |
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The 1300 years old Kailasa Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva |
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View of the upper part of Kailasa Temple
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Kailasa Temple
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Rich decorations of the temple wall
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View of Kailasa from the hill from where was cut, which gives you a good impression of the task involved to carve such a huge temple by hand
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Jain caves
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Small Kailasa, a Jain temple
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Double storey Jain cave
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Jain cave
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| Taj Mahal? |
No, is Bibi-ka-Makbara in Aurangabad |
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Aurangabad is a weaving centre specialising in cotton and silk material with designs inspired from motifs of Ajanta frescoes. Here is traditional Paithani sari made from silk and gold or silver brocade. This sari takes 6 months of handwork to finish and costs around 1100 euro |
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Waiver at work |
