Caves of Ellora

And with this post comes to end the Ajanta - Ellora bit of the travellogue. Did you know that these caves are separated by a good 40 Kms.....

Ellora caves are synonymous with "Kailash". Can you believe that this entire gigantic structure is carved from a single rock! All the pics you see below are of "Kailash" and they do not even cover half of it....

 

 

Ellora thou is a famous world heritage site, the place sadly lacks the basic Travel infrastructure in terms of Stay and food. The only saving grace is Hotel Kails - A boutique hotel that's a stones throw away from Ellora. I highly recommend this place - it definitely adds to the overall experience......

Also of interest to Hindu travelers is the fact that one of the twelve jyotirlings - Grishneshwar - is located hardly a kilometer away from Ellora Caves.

Linking this to 2014 AtoZ Challenge - C is for Caves of Ellora

Buddhist Caves - Ellora - Part 1

Did u know Ajanta & Ellora caves were rediscovered by accident. History has it that they were built centuries ago, but were later abandoned and soon forgotten. It was in 1819, that a British Hunting party sighted these caves purely by accident and the excavations have been going on since then.....

Ellora caves are widely spread out and need a minimum of one good day to traverse through. Unlike Ajanta Caves which are all Buddhist, Ellora caves have Hindu, Jain and Buddhist figures engraved in them......

There are 34 caves in all at Ellora, out of which the first 12 are the Buddhist caves.....

 Linking this to AtoZ Challenge - B is for Budhhist Caves @ Ellora

@Ajanta

Am starting this season of AtoZ with stories from my road trip in Maharashtra that we did late last year. The caves of Ajanta and Ellora is what lured Pheno to do this back-breaking road-trip(
Mumbai - Bangalore is almost 1200km one way)........ So A is for Ajanta....

Caves of Ajanta are not just another tourist attraction but also holds religious significance for Buddhists across the world. The day we were visiting, the place was teaming with Buddhist Monks from Thailand.....

Did you know, Ajanta caves is full of priceless fresco Paintings? I for one didn't know about it. The painting of Padmapani with Louts takes the cake though.....

The sculptures from that era leaves me in awe.... Considering they are from centuries ago and they must have just had the basic of the tools to chisel these out.....

 

But my favorite should be this reclining Buddha ... the peace it exudes............

I was definitely awed by this place! Next time you are in Mumbai or Pune, do make a weekend trip to this place....

And thus we kick-start 2014 AtoZ Challenge - A is for Ajanta