Oct. 25-31
Out of
Delhi! Though we were sad to leave the extensive public transportation system,
cool weather, and the fast pace of the city, Aurangabad offered an exciting
adventure in a new place.
Day 1, we
headed off on a 2-hour drive to Ajanta to visit the Ajanta caves. These caves
were carved out of rocks for Buddhist starting around the 2nd
century BCE. Architecturally, the caves looked as though they were being held up by
the stone pillars found inside, though, the structure was completely stable
without the pillars. The artisans had simply incorporated features (such as the
pillars and wood look-a-likes) to make the monks feel as though they were
more intricately made than they really were, as well as making it more homey by using the styles of homes at the time. Sanjay, our guide, explained that
the workers would hang from the tops of the enclaves and dangle down to the sides
of the rock to start the carving process. The amount of work that went into
these caves is almost unfathomable and we hadn’t even seen the paintings yet! The
paintings inside featured some of the most intricate and remarkable pieces of
art we had seen thus far on the trip.
The variety of colors and tableaus only added to the overall mystique of
the place!
Lotus ceilings in
Ajanta.
Laura hanging out by
the oldest of the Ajanta caves.
In Ajanta, the have
monkeys bigger than Becca!
That same night, Sanjay surprised us with tickets to a traditional dance festival in Aurangabad. We attended and saw dances and musical performances from artists all over India. Quite the unexpected surprise! One dance showed the interplay of Shiva (supreme god and destroyer of evil) and his wife Pavarti. Sanjay explained the relationship between Shiva and Pavarti and how the dance reflected it. It is really hard to put into words, but the basic idea we got from it was that they take care of each other and can be each other’s biggest supporter and advocate.
Decorations from the music and dance festival.
Decorations from the music and dance festival.
Just as we
thought it couldn’t get any better, the Ellora caves followed on our visit to
Aurangabad. These caves were also STUNNING. No other words to describe it!
Ellora has one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temples in the world. A little
younger than Ajanta, these caves were from anywhere between 600-1000 CE period.
Portraits of dancing Shiva, Parvati, and Vishnu lined the walls of the temple,
and cut out lotuses ornamented the ceilings.
We were pretty silent throughout the entire visit, because well, the
caves left us speechless.
Ellie from the top of
the Ellora caves!
More from the Ellora
caves.
Ground view of the
Ellora caves.
Aurangabad was a wonderfully cool excursion in India. Now,
we are off to Chennai - where we will spend the largest period of our time in
India. Like Delhi, we’re sad to leave, but excited to see what’s up next!
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