Gypsydrag

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Caves beckons !!

Diwali, festival of lights had indeed brought a difference in my life this year. What’s in store for next year is totally not in my hands, is it? So whatever I had been through this year and so far, would be doted as "unforgettable moments".
I and Hubby dear have our checklist for 'places to travel' and we had put a tick mark over Ajanta and Ellora caves in Aurangabad. We started in the morning as we knew its around 390Kms and time is precious to make maximum out of the weekends.
The morning breeze was indeed soothing in Mumbai as the fresh air was just setting in, competing with the Diwali smoke and pollution. I can't just forget to thank the GPS navigator in helping us making our travel much easier as the paper map we had was an old helping hand now. We were estimated to reach by noon and thought of covering Ellora caves which was the best decision we made.
Ellora Caves:
These caves dating from A.D. 600 to 1000, brings the civilization of ancient India to life. These caves were declared as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, a number of years back. The Ellora Caves bear witness to three great religions (Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism). The place is so full of guides local and government aided. It’s your choice to get one!! We had a quick ride at Ellora and visited main caves.
Ellora Caves were carved out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills and comprise of temples as well as monasteries. There are total twelve Buddhist Caves at Ellora (numbered 1 to 12), while the Hindu Caves number seventeen (13 to 29). On the other hand, the Jain Caves excavated at the site are only five in number (numbered 30 to 34). The co-existence of Hindi, Jain and Buddhist Caves, at the same site, serves as a proof of the fact that religious harmony prevailed during that period.

The earliest excavation carried out at the site of Ellora Caves revealed the Cave number twenty nine, known as Dhumar Lena. Then, there is the magnificent Kailasa Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, situated inside cave 16. The temple holds the distinction of being the single largest monolithic structure in the whole world and makes one of the major attractions of the Ellora Caves. Whenever you go to Aurangabad, make sure to visit these splendid caves and explore the country's rich legacy. (Courtesy: Ellora manifesto)

It was a great feel to stand there and say “I am amidst of these huge masses of rocks”.
We resided that night at hotel called “Kailash” which is so adjacent to these Ellora caves. Need not say how thrilled we were to spend a night there and to have our breakfast early in the morning facing these caves.

1 comment:

Jeevan said...

Nice perspective about this place that built little more knowledge about the caves.

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