You need to go to Ajanta and Ellora
They are likely the best places you’ve never heard of. What are they? Ajanta and Ellora are two huge cave complexes carved out of the rock of the Deccan Plateau in India. They are both UNESCO world heritage sites filled with Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples, sculptures, and paintings that are over 2000 years old. As an archaeological site, they are up there with the Pyramids of Giza, Ankgor Wat, and the Roman Colosseum. They preserve a snapshot of the ancient history of the Indian subcontinent.
We visited Ajanta and Ellora this winter while visiting family in India. It was one of the best things we did while there. I felt like Indiana Jones the whole time. If you’re going to India anyways, take a few days out of your itinerary and go there.
Logistics
- Where is it? Ajanta and Ellora are two separate sites in the state of Maharashtra in central India. The closest major city is Aurangabad. You can base your trip out of there. A Google map is linked below. Ellora is about 1 hour from Aurangabad. Ajanta is about 2.5 hours from Aurangabad.
- How long? You need two full days and three nights to see both sites appropriately. One day to see Ellora, one day to see Ajanta, and part of a day to see the other sites. Get a flight back in the evening to so that you get the whole day to sightsee the last day.
- How to get there? Fly to Aurangabad on Jet Airways from anywhere in India. We did a short hop from Kolkata through Mumbai. You can take also take a train there from Mumbai, but it’s way longer. Not worth it.
- Where to stay? There are a number of nice hotels in Aurangabad. We stayed at two luxury hotels — the Rama ITC and the Taj Vivanta. We liked the Rama ITC way better. The rooms were much more modern, the restaurant was better, the service was fantastic, and it was significantly cheaper.
- When to go? Go in the winter. It’s a comfortable 75F outside then. In the summer the temperatures regularly top 110F. During the monsoon, the whole area turns into Dengue Fever land. If you’re a “weak-sauce immune system” American like me, then you should especially stay away then.
Peak Experiences
Enough about the logistics. What is visiting Ajanta and Ellora like? Here’s small sampling of some of our highlights.
#1 Seeing Cave 16 at Ellora
Cave 16 is by far the biggest monolithic carving at Ellora. Calling it a “carving” is kind of misleading because it’s actually a huge temple complex — that just happens to be carved from a single rock. Apparently it was carved over 200 years, from 400–600 AD, by TEN generations of artisans. TEN generations! The foresight and follow through to build something of this scale is mind-boggling. I mean, I get bored captioning Instagram posts. The people that built this planned and executed over ten lifetimes. WTF.
The temple itself has so many cool details (that are only unlocked with a knowledgeable guide). For example, the temple is to both Shiva and Vishnu. Apparently the architects wanted to bring together these two sects of Hinduism into one temple. One side has all the avatars of Vishnu depicted, the other the many poses of Shiva. On the south side there is a huge frieze of the Ramayana. On the north side there is a huge frieze of the Mahabharata. The whole thing is shaped like a chariot being carried on the back of elephants and other mythical creatures.
All in all, it’s one of the most impressive archaeological sites I’ve been to. The best part is that you can still climb into all the nooks and crannies and see what up inside and out.
#2 Climbing to the top of Ellora
We climbed a short trail to the top of Ellora to get a bird’s eye view of Cave 16. From this perspective you can really understand how it was carved down from the top out of the mountain. What’s even more impressive is that the artisans built all of this with nothing but pick axes and hand chisels.
#3 Seeing all Buddhist sculpture
Most of the caves at Ellora and Ajanta are Buddhist caves. They were built at a time when India was a predominantly Buddhist country. They contain a cornucopia of Buddha symbology. Our guide Hassan unlocked all the secrets behind the symbols for us.
Some interesting facts:
- The really old caves, made around 200 BC, don’t have idols of the Buddha. Instead they have stupas, which are an abstract representation of nirvana.
- The more recent caves, from 400 AD onward start to have the typical Buddha image we all know.
- The actual Buddha probably looked nothing like the likeness we know. The idol is a collection of symbols that signify a wise man — curly hair, long ears, oval face, long arms. The real Buddha probably just looked like a Nepali dude — cause thats where he was from.
I loved learning the history of Buddhism walking through these caves — mainly because I really like the teachings of Buddhism. Of all the modern religions, I think Buddhism is the most scientific. It analyzes the human condition objectively and comes up with practical solutions to mitigate suffering (e.g. mindfulness). It’s ironic that the man that preached that there was no God, has now, centuries later, become a God himself — replete with gigantic temples dedicated to him. Humans are a strange species.
#4 Seeing Buddhist paintings at Ajanta
This is what Ajanta is known for. Ajanta was lost to human knowledge for over 1000 years until it was rediscovered by a British guy in 1815. Because it was undisturbed, the ancient paintings in these caves were preserved in fairly good shape. Apparently all the surfaces in both Ellora and Ajanta were painted like this — but only a few have survived because — well — 2000 years is a long time.
I was surprised at how vibrant the paintings still are. They depict scenes from the life of Buddha and the life around 400 AD. What’s funny is that lots of things have not changed — people look the same, play similar games, dress similarly, and live in similar shaped houses. This is the deal with India — history is still living there. There is a continuous line from the ancient past to the present.
#5 Chanting in the Buddhist meditation chambers
All of the Buddhist caves are actually monasteries. As such, they all have many 6 by 6 feet meditation chambers built into them. This is where the monks would go to meditate. The rooms are tuned so that they resonate human speech — particularly if you say “Ommmmm”. Of course, I had to try it out. Video below.
Turns out, hitting resonance makes your spine vibrate. I can see how chanting in these chambers could put you in a transcendent state. Like I said, Buddhism take a scientific approach to training the mind. It created this tool to train the mind to be better, faster, stronger.
#6 Learning about the living Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist mythologies
One of the best parts of having a guided tour of Ellora was learning about the history of all three religions that have caves there. Some observations:
- India is the ultimate mish-mash of religions.
- All these religions have mostly coexisted semi-peacefully throughout their history. I say “semi-peacefully” because there have been periods of violence. For example, Buddhism was once the national religion of India. But at some point, things changed, and Hindu brahmins killed all the Buddhist monks and largely expelled the religion from the place where it was started.
- Jainism is an intense religion. Especially if you’re a monk — you can’t eat any meat or root vegetables. Also monks wear masks over their mouth so they will not inhale and kill any insects. These monks also go through intense self deprivation rituals — like fasting for weeks. Because of this intensity, the religion has never grown to more than 1% of the Indian population.
- That being said, they have been very successful in amassing wealth. This is because Jains did not historically farm. Farming was off limits because it harmed too many animals. So instead they became financiers. The story is very similar to that of the Jews in the Middle Ages, where they were not allowed to own land — so they had to turn to finance to make a living. In the long term, that pans out well.
- Religion is such an effective social construct. It’s a collective story that both (a) gives meaning to life and (b) brings people together for a common cause. It’s no wonder religion has always been so successful.
#7 Soaking up the ambience away from the crowds
Being India, both Ajanta and Ellora are crowded. But you can still find some peace and quiet if you climb to the upper levels of the monasteries. Sitting there you can pretend you were monk living here 2000 years ago. These places were designed for mindfulness… it’s nice to soak up some of that mojo.
#8 Buying fruits on the side of the road
The archaeological wonders aren’t the whole story though. Half the fun is the other stuff. For example, one of the most memorable experiences was stopping at a roadside stall and buying a bunch of fruit. Most of them we can’t get back in the US. Peara (guava), atha (no clue what this is in English), and daab’er jol (young coconut water). You should eat all the fruits — as long as you’re eating the inside, or thoroughly washing them, so you don’t ingest tainted water and get dysentery.
#9 Eating food fresh from the tawa
We gorged ourselves on fresh tawa (clay oven) cooked food at almost every meal. Fresh naan, paratha, tandoori chicken, kebabs — perfectly cooked, mouth watering, food. It’s so good that I wanted to rub it all over my body. Seriously, I still may have to go back just to do that.
#10 Seeing handmade textiles made
On the way back from Ellora we stopped at a small textile factory where artisans were making paithani saris and himroo shawls on some old school looms. These two fabrics are a specialty of this part of India. I’m pretty sure this was largely staged for tourists (at scale I bet these fabrics are made in some sort of sweatshop). But it was still cool to see the detailed work being done by hand. Robots haven’t take this over yet.
#11 Climbing to the top of Daulatabad fort at Sunset
Ajanta and Ellora are only two highlights of many historical sites near Aurangabad. One of the best secondary sites is the Daulatabad Fort. This is a gigantic fort that was built over many centuries and occupied by various rulers — from Hindu maharajas to Muslim nizams. It was finally conquered by Aurangazeb, the Mughal emperor, and became his seat of power to rule the Deccan Plateau.
We spent most of the early evening walking through its seven protective walls and crawling through the “dark passage” to get to the central chambers. Entry to the fort is filled with dead ends and diversions to fool invaders into traps. In the end, though, the Fort was conquered by cutting of the food supply and bribing the soldiers defending it. Starvation and disloyalty are very effective weapons. They will bring down the most impregnable fortress.
It truly feels like old India climbing up on the Fort. There are minarets, old cannons, broken walls, and centuries of history in one place. It’s all abandoned and left to decay. Monuments to former grandeur.
#12 Seeing the Bibi Ki Maqbara
The Bibi ki Maqbara is called the mini Taj Mahal. It was built by Aurangazeb’s son as a mausoleum for his mother. Though it looks like the Taj Mahal, it’s nowhere near the grandeur of it. It’s made from much lower quality marble and stucco. That being said, it’s still a really interesting site to see.
Only in India is a grand building made in the early 1700s relegated to the third tier of the tourist circuit. This building is older than America, but next to 2000 year old Ellora and Ajanta it’s just “meh”.
#13 Getting ripped off
You will get accosted by hawkers trying to sell you stuff. You will get weak and “take a look”. You will then be duped into buying three “Mughal Era” and “British Raj Era” coins for 500 rupees. You will then realize that these must be fakes and feel bad about getting ripped off. This is India. It’s part of the experience. Just embrace it.
Key Tips
If you’ve read this far and are seriously considering a trip, here’s a few more tips to make it more awesome.
Get a Tour Guide and a Car
Nothing will make sense without a tour guide. We had Hassan — and he was amazing. He showed us every detail we wanted and explained everything — from the history of Auranganbad to what a particular painting meant.
The car is critical as well. It gave us the freedom to go anywhere we wanted, when we wanted. This included snack stops, shopping stops, bathroom breaks, fruit on the side of the road, and other random sites.
This sounds super expensive, but it’s not in India. We got our car and tour guide for 3.5 days for ~30K rupees. That’s < $500. Split across four people this is an incredible deal. This included transporting us to and from the airport as well. The only thing it didn’t include was the entrance fees — but those aren’t much — especially if you are brown and pretend to be Indian tourists. Then you get in for 1/10th the price of foreigners.
We got our car and guide through the tour service based in the Rama ITC hotel. They were fantastic. No hassles. Really professional. No issues. This is always a surprise in India. Highly recommended.
- AURANGABAD TRANSPORT SYNDICATE
- Add: Plot no. 7, Venkatesh Nagar, Near Ellora Hospital, AURANGABAD -431001
- Tel nos: 0240–6507650 / FAX 0240–2341432
- E- mail : salim@aurangabadtours.net & attixu@bsnl.in
Go Early in the Day
We always tried to leave as early as possible, around 8am, to beat the crowds. The school groups take over both Ellora and Ajanta in the afternoon. We got even luckier because there was a bandh (strike) in Maharashtra while we were there that reduced crowds even significantly. You can’t plan for that though.
Figure out your Low Light Photography
Both Ajanta and Ellora are caves. It’s dark inside. You need to figure out your low light photography solution before you go. I had my Canon DSLR tuned to high ISO and low f-stop with my 10–20mm ultra wide lens. It worked well. What’s sad (or maybe good) is that my new iPhone X camera was almost as good. In addition, it required no thought on my part about shutter speed, aperture, ISO. It just worked. Seriously, Canon should be scared — pretty soon the iPhone camera will be all we need.
Conclusion
I really have nothing more profound to say. Ajanta and Ellora are amazing. You should go there. I would travel to India to just see these places. If you’re already there, definitely make the side trip. Get the full Indian experience.
For more pics check out my SmugMug album.
