Ajanta and Ellora Caves

Ajanta and Ellora Caves

Near central India, the Ellora caves were carved into rock along a river cliff starting around 300 AD. As a testimony to peaceful co-existence, Hindu, Jain and Buddhist followers inhabited and expanded these caves for nearly 1000 years. Check out http://www.indiantravelportal.com/maharashtra/caves/ajanta-caves.html

The caves are carved directly into the rock face. Some are temples (places of worship) and others are monasteries (residences). The monasteries are large central rooms supported by pillars, ringed with tiny cubicles for each pair of monks. The cells consisted just of two stone sleeping shelves -extremely austere!

The Ellora caves are now a protected World Heritage site, but have been vandalized in the past. Some are little more than bat caves (and smell accordingly!). But there are still plenty of hints in the stone walls, floors and ceilings. The caves were excavated into the stone, floors laid with stone or mud, and walls and ceilings plastered and then painted with beautiful religious murals. Alcoves were carved leaving religious statuary such as gods and goddesses.

The most astounding cave temple is #16. In this case, both the exterior and interior were carved. That is, a full temple has been created from the single rock, chiseling away the exterior to create a magnificent facade and chiseling away the interior for the rooms. But it is not even just one temple. Instead there is a full courtyard with elephants and other statues, many pillars and shrines, several temple buildings, and residential rooms. The whole is shaped to resemble the sacred Mt Kailish in Tibet. This does deserve the title as one of the world's wonders.

Unlike the Ellora caves, the Ajanta caves were not known to exist until recently. Dating from 300 BC-600 AD, even older than Ellora, they were overgrown with jungle and forgotten until a British hunting party stumbled upon them. Subsequently they have been quite well preserved, and the government of India has done a remarkable job of protecting and displaying them. The area has the feel of a National Park in the west, for example with just the appropriate amount of artificial lighting in the caves. The setting is a beautiful bend in the river, and a green park lies on the river bank. (Green is a rare and welcome sight in India!)

The Ajanta caves were exclusively Buddhist, starting from just after the time of Buddha and continuing until Buddhism in India was absorbed back into Hinduism around 700 AD. We walked through magnificent cave after cave. The earliest caves do not depict Buddha (since that was discouraged by the Buddha), while the later ones have magnificent statues (as his admonishments were set aside with time). We went through the first several caves as tourists, flashing photos between the groups of school children. But we wanted to experience the caves more thoroughly. We stopped a couple of times, but were always interrupted by other tourists. Finally, near the end, a quartet of Thai monks was praying in one cave. We quietly joined, as did another westerner. This set the tone and other tourists respected the quiet. We could see how special these places were --we could feel the spirituality as we sat. We regretted that there was no time set aside for devotional practice, such as we saw at the great cathedrals in Europe, which balanced the flow of tourists and the sanctity of practitioners.