Chalne se darr nahi lagta saab, seediyon se lagta hai...

This is an account of my trip to Ajanta and Ellora and the immortal words (actually a corruption of a famous dialogue from the hit movie Dabbang) that I've used as the title of this post were uttered by my friend M, after we had climbed up and down what seemed like a labyrinth of stairs.

Post out trip to Tung Fort, both M and I were fairly positive we could endure each others company for a couple of days without killing each other. So when our friendly neighborhood adventure tour operator announced a caves exploration trip to Ajanta Ellora, we decided to sign up. Though each of us did a bit of surreptitious background check to ensure that there would be no hard core climbing, as we wanted to avoid subjecting our on-the-right-side of thirty five muscles to more torture like the Tung trek. I also invited El and my sister Div, to join on the trip. Div agreed and El bailed out on me at the last minute. While booking the trip we were told that there were a few other parties that were interested so we could except a fairly large group. When the glad day arrived we were told that all the rest bailed and it was only M, Div and me who were on the trip. So, finally it looked like it was going to be a personalised trip to Ajanta Ellora!!!

We were booked on the Devagiri Express which leaves CST (another World Heritage site) at 9.05 p.m. Friday and given my past history at office, where I was in office till past eight when I had a flight for the US later that night, wiser for the experience, I carried my travelling kit with me, so six-thirty saw me and my bag cruising along the highway towards Andheri, where Div had agreed to meet me. We took the Harbour train and arrived at CST at around eight thirty, but enroute I almost fainted as for some reason if while travelling I'm not facing the direction of travel, my head goes funny and add to it the crowds and feeling of claustrophobia and you have a battle on hand trying to keep me on my feet. 

Div, is like the ancient mariner when it comes to dealing with my fainting spells and she comes prepared with water, sugar sweets and as soon as we entered the train, somehow she managed to wangle a "fourth" seat and was precariously perched on it (I refused to sit as I have never mastered the art of sitting on half a bum, and I wasn't about to start now... that is, till I fainted post which I was forced to sit). Anyway after all that action we arrived at CST and were met by M and R (the representative from the tour operator who would be our facilitator on the trip).

The train was already at the platform and we settled ourselves in our designated seats, and at 9.05 p.m. on cue it chugged out of the station. A little after ten we were truly out of Mumbai and enjoying the sights of how the night envelopes the Indian countryside. The ghostly silhouettes of the trees and houses, the stars twinkling in the night sky, a lone lantern braving the darkness and twinkling like a star on the ground. It makes for some fascinating moments, if you only look long enough as it washes over your city weary mind and welcomes you into its warm embrace. We arrived at Aurangabad at five in the morning and checked into Hotel Atharva, on CBS Road, which has clean and well appointed rooms.  

First on our agenda was Ajanta caves, a little background courtesy Wikipedia on the caves which are on the World Heritage list.

The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are 29 rock-cut cave monuments which date from the 2th century BCE to the 600 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art (which depict the Jataka tales) as well as frescos which are reminiscent of the Sigiriya paintings in Sri Lanka. The caves were built in two phases starting around 2th century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 600 CE.

Post breakfast at around 10 in the morning we left for the caves and arrived there at twelve noon, to say it was hot is an understatement, but one sight of the caves is enough to make you forget everything. The caves are excavated in a horse–shoe shaped valley which has a stream at the base. The stream bed was dry at the moment but we could picture the beauty and grandeur of the place when it rains and the dry stream swells and flows thundering over the rounded rocks. In its hey days it must have been a place of where peace and traquility must have ruled supreme and monks furthered their religious pursuits. The caves hold you spellbound, with the larger than life sculptures, paintings, fine carvings and artwork, makes you wonder at the ingenuity and skill of our ancestors. Here I couldn't draw anything of beauty if my life depended on it and our ancestors were cutting into rock and leaving us a heritage so beautiful. If only we could appreciate it more and do something to preserve it better for the future generations. They say a picture speaks more than a thousand words, so I'm going to shut up now and let the pictures speak...

The next day saw us on the way to Ellora, a little background courtesy Wikipedia on the caves which are also on the World Heritage list.

Ellora (Marathi: वेरूळ Vērūḷa) is an archaeological site, 30 km (19 mi) from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. Well-known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site. Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 "caves" – actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut temples and viharas and mathas were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (caves 13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.

                 

If Ajanta was magical, nothing prepared me for the majesty and raw energy of Ellora. Something about the place just made me feel at peace with myself, there are few places that makes you feel like one with the world Ellora is one of them, It felt like a deeply religious experience and I've only come close to feeling like this once before at the Trinity Church in Boston. 

The architecture at Ellora may not be as fine as that at Ajanta but there is something about the rawness of the sculptures that leave you mesmerized. The caves are spread over 2 kms.  and are dug into a cliff. Where Ajanta caves are Buddhists in nature, here we can see influences of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, thereby displaying a spirit of tolerance that was and I would like to say still is a characteristic of India. The highlight of the visit was cave 16, which has a huge temple complex, and you have to see it to believe it, the temple is hewn out of solid rock, the intricate design and eye for details displayed by the artisan nothing short of mindblowing. I'm told that the artisans worked downward, chipping away at the rocks creating history and beauty along the way, I for one am short of words to describe all that I saw, again I'm going to let the pictures speak...

 

   

           

               

I have come back truly humbled and since it ended up with just the three of us, it was indeed a personalized trip, we could do the things we wanted do and actually has fun along the way, M's joking observation "Khana, Peena, Sona, Nirvana" sums up the experience perfectly...