Aurangabad and the caves

These caves are mind boggling... the sheer time and energy that the workers spent designing and building them from the 6th to the 9th century AD is incredible!

They are the famous Elora caves near Aurangabad, half of the duo of cave sites which this area is famous for. The others are at Ajanta, further north which we didn't get to see this time.

We took a public bus (where it's at ;) ) to Elora in the morning, cramming onto it as it approached the bus station with people pouring into it, even through the windows! We hadn't had to fight for a seat this bad before. Miriam ended up sitting on my lap for most of the 50 min journey...

Once we got to Elora and had hustled our way past all the usual hawkers selling cold drinks and " 500 year old Mughal coins", we walked to the far end of the cave complex, tracing the time back to the 6th century when the first Buddhist caves were excavated. These began in a very simple and practical style, becoming increasingly bigger, more elaborate and artistic as they had to compete with the flamboyant sculptures of the hindu caves further along in the 8th century or so...

Most of these caves are known as "Viharas" or monasteries where the monks both worshiped and lived. Lots of these have halls as well as cells which they probably used for living quarters and meditation.

The caves were carved over long periods of time, some taking decades and in the case of the famous Kailash temple even 100 years! The standard technique was to insert wooden poles inside cracks within the basalt (yep, it's all basalt here) and then soak them in water. This would cause them to swell and slowly the rock would break away. It was a very time consuming process and had to be done very carefully since there was no room for error. (It's incredible to see how accurate the work was done)

Once the majority of the surrounding rock was gone the rock sculptures could come in and begin the fine work of releasing the beautiful figures hidden within using hammer and chisel. Simply Beautiful.

It seemed like the early caves were often left unfinished in preference to beginning a new cave right beside it. Often the massive rock pillars which keep the roof up have been detailed in fine patterns near the top and then left unfinished half a meter down. Other spaces seem to have been left bare purposely (especially the Buddhist caves).

After cave 12 of the Buddhist series the Hindu caves began. These were typically highly detailed in sculpture and of increasingly bigger proportions, culminating in the (insert word meaning something very impressive) Kailash temple. Not really a cave any more since it has no roof but rather a massive single sculpture excavated out of the hillside. This mamoth project took over four generations of architects (i would love to see the drawings) and sculptures to complete and was originally covered completely in white plaster, symbolizing the snow on the abode of lord Shiva; Mount Kailash. The photo below doesn't even begin to do it justice...

 

 There's a bit more I want to say about the Jain caves but my card reader has just packed up so I'll have to wait till next time.....

-Jo

Ok, here they are, some more shots from the caves. This first one is a typical scene which is becoming more common...every attraction we go to see we seem to become the attraction ourselves. This group were kept busy asking Miriam and Sophia questions and I was able to sneak away to take some more photos in peace ;)

The inside of one of the elaborate Jain caves.

- Jo