Splunking

We are in Aurangabad, about 7 hours (by bus) east of Mumbai.



Close by, in Ellora, there are a series of caves that were built between 600-1000 AD.



The site is divided into 34 different cave areas, built by three different religious groups: Buddhists, Hindus and Jainists.



The first 12 caves are all Buddhist caves. They are the oldest caves, although some of the later ones built, like the Chaitya above, are larger than the first few caves. Our guidebook suggests this is because they were trying to keep up with the larger Hindu caves being built around the same time. The Chaitya is quite remarkable in that it imitates wooden beams in its stone carvings, creating a beautiful cathedral-like space. There are also intricate carvings in the friezes along the walls, and a window toward the ceiling which provides some illumination for the figure of the teaching Buddha.



Beautiful carvings depicting deities in one of the caves.



Dananananananannananananan --- BATMAN!



Needless to say, there were certain, darker areas of the caves that Jessica was slightly less interested in seeing.



Looking in the caves, the fact that they continue to stand is pretty amazing. I cannot imagine how they did it. Digging tunnels on the beach is tough enough. Then again, they never had to deal with any waves, did they?



The second set of caves, caves 13 to 29, were all Hindu caves. It was interesting to see many of the similarities between all the caves.



These caves were easily the biggest, going easily 3 stories high or more.



Unfortunately, some of the finer details (like elephant trunks) were often worn down or broken off, but those that still stood were amazing. Many areas of this particular cave had also been painted, which we could still see on certain friezes and other parts of the temple, shown above.



The Jain caves, caves 30 to 34, were the last ones built.



These caves did not try to compete with the size of the Hindu caves, instead focusing on the details of the carvings, which were remarkably intricate. Unlike the other caves, not a single surface (other than the floors) did not have some kind of carving on it.



Unfortunately, because these where the last caves, after several hours of climbing and exploring we were a little exhausted, so we didn't get a chance to appreciate the details quite as much as we might have liked. But overall, they were amazing to see!