This post is dedicated to one spot and one "cave". You will see why.
So what are Ajanta and Ellora caves you might ask? Well, they are a World Heritage Site and are in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die (but so are a lot of hotels, so that might not count). They are amazing cave temple complexes within 100 km of each other that have Buddhist, Hindu, Jain representation. Ellora has all three in one spot!
In August, when Sarah and Carla were here, we went off to the caves!
Kailash at Ellora
Ok, Ellora has Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain caves all in one spot. These caves were carved right out of the rock on the face of a small mountain. Dates are up for debate (according to Lonely Planet), but about 5th century CE to 12th century CE. It is sort of a horseshoe, and you approach in the center where the Hindu caves are, Buddhist to the right, Jain to the left. Cave is sort of a misnomer for Ellora, it is more like amazing sculptures
The highlight of this complex is the largest monolithic statue in the world, which is meant to be like Mount Kailash, the home to Shiva (Hindu god the Destroyer). It is carved out of a single rockface in the mountainside. it tells several Hindu tales of various gods. In case you are wondering the scale-this monolith itself is more than twice the size of the Parthenon! Sandip calls it Petra (from Jordan) but with more detail and scale the interior is carved out. Photos hardly capture it. It is so impressive it gets its own blog...
This is the view as we are walking up to the center.
At the entrance you are greeted with Lakshmi, Consort of Vishnu the Sustainer, who is being bathed by elephants.
A view from the bottom looking up.
Detail of carving, that is Hanuman the monkey warrior who helped Ram save Sita (you were paying attention in the Ramayana story, right?)
Amazing detail. This carving tells the episodes from the Mahabharata. There are two epic stories in Hinduism. One is the Ramayana (which you all know), and the other is the Mahabharata. I know less about the Mahabharata.
What I do know is it is the story of Krishna telling Arjun to man up. Basically an epic battle between two kingdoms, which have been historically traced to a site near Delhi. (Sandip went to find the ruins, but was not successful. He also ate some bad street food and got sick. Don't eat street food.).
Wikipedia tells me is the Mahabharata is 4 times as long as the Ramayana and 10 times the size of the Illyad or Odyssey combined. This explains why I am fuzzy on the details.
Also quite majestic in sepia.
This shows how the carving is literally in the rock. Some sort of flying god I think, but not sure. All gods fly anyway, right?
We are all so impressed by whatever I am point at. I think it is the flying thing in the previous photo.
Bats were everywhere, and it definitely smelt like guano.
From inside the cave looking out at the base of the main rising temple.
You might recognize these people!
For perspective on size- see the tiny people in the distance.
Shoes outside the temple at the top of the monolith.
Monica, our upstairs neighbor on the right. Sarah (on left) friend from grad school and her friend Carla (between me and Monica). Totally a great time.
Walking up the side. Look closely for the detail and carvings.
Those people (see the one in blue) are standing where I took the picture of the shoes.
Sandip, don't forget the lens cover. (Ang cleverly discovered it sitting on the wall and threw it in her pocket.)
Looking down from the top. Where you see black roads in the distance is where I tool the first picture in this blog.
