Ajanta is know for its caves - 29 Buddhist temples carved out of the cliffs in a nearby valley, much like the structures in Petra are carved into the rock. Access to the site is well controlled and the site is clean and the caves are well presented and there is restoration work going on. The caves date from 200 BC to 600 AD and they all had been richly decorated both by carvings and paintings. We had an excellent guide who explained the evolution of art during this time span, noting that what we were seeing was all Buddhist symbolism and art.
Caves at Ellora - just over 100 km away - we ride our bikes there tomorrow and then have a rest day there - were built by three religions, Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain, and so offer a different glimpse of customs and culture of the day. I couldn't absorb all the detail to even start to explain all on it this blog. Suffice it to say that we took lots of pictures and maybe some day after we get home, we'll do some more reading. One can only marvel at the engineering precision that was achieved 2000 years ago without modern tools and automation, the symmetry of the structures and the amazing detail in paintings.
So here's a selection of photos from the Ajanta caves...
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| the blue colouring is significant thin that it was not a colour that was available in India; rather it was made from materials from Persia |
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| the middle column is most complete - note that detail at the top |
Tomorrow it's 100+ km on the bikes to Ellora, and apparently the roads are under construction and are not good... character building they say... wow, we must be real characters by now.
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