This is the first of many great views that I had the chance of seeing last weekend when I went with my Art class to visit the Caves of Ajanta & Ellora in Aurangabad.
The trip took about 9 hours on bus. We left school on Friday afternoon and that same night we were having a midnight snack in Aurangabad. On Saturday morning we drove for about two more hours to get to the Caves of Ajanta, the first ones on our list.
The caves of Ajanta were built during the second century B.C.E., and they contain Buddhist images & sculptures. They have been part of India's World Heritage according to UNESCO since 1983. There are many interesting facts surrounding the caves, but one of the most relevant is that they were re-discovered by an English officer in 1819, after centuries of being abandoned! To this day, they remain in their original (and magical) state. They are truly impressive.
Ajanta has about 36 caves (each more impressive than the one before) which include what once were meditation rooms, teaching halls and cells for monks, among other things. The ceilings, walls and columns are (or were) all painted with ink made out of various kinds of plants and flowers, and they have very detailed carvings.
There is a statue of Buddha in pretty much every cave. The sculptures tell his story and that is why in the last cave (Cave 36), Buddha is in a horizontal position (as if he was asleep), which means he has reached Nirvana.
Apart from having caves, there's a river that runs through the site, as well as a small park and even a lookout.
Besides exploring and snapping photos, we had the chance to sit down and sketch for a long time. This has probably been the most creative trip I've ever been in, and I have never felt as artistic and professional as I did when I sat down to draw. Even though it was only for half an hour. And I drew two wobbly lines somewhere in my journal.
On Sunday morning we went to visit the Caves of Ellora. I thought that after spending a day in Ajanta nothing was going to be impressive anymore, but I had no idea that two places could be just as magnificent and genuinely beautiful. Ellora is fantastic.
Ellora has many more sculptures than paintings and the caves are a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu religions, so there is also a wider variety of sculptures, and carvings have a greater importance.
This is one of the first few photos of a cave from the inside, and even though it looks simple, when you are standing in the middle of that enormous hall, you feel really small. But everything is so beautiful that it doesn't really matter. And the peace that can be felt in that place is another story entirely.
Even though the caves seem to have an average size, the truth is they're HUGE!
Ellora also has a temple which is famous for being built from top to bottom instead of viceversa, which is how everything is usually built.
The temple is possibly the most gorgeous view in all of Ellora.
One of the things I liked best was that although Ajanta & Ellora attract thousands of tourists, both places are clean and well preserved. Not all the guards were nice, but some of them gave us really small tours and random facts, so I had a great time.
I couldn't have enjoyed this trip more. It was worth every second!
Thanks for the photo, Mawada!
To look at the photos in their original format, click here.
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