Caves of Enlightenment

The Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, India

As promised in the post before, here’re some pictures of the Ellora and Ajanta caves, the highlight I will say, of any trip to Maharashtra. These caves are accessible from the city of Aurangabad, about 5 hours drive from where we stay in Daund. Ellora is only about 30km from Aurangabad. For Ajanta, it’s another 100 odd km from Aurangabad. These are all man-made caves carved out of the rocky mountainside to form temples and monasteries. In ancient times, what better way to prove your devotion than by carving monuments out of the hills?


The Ajanta caves are all Buddhist Caves constructed between 200 BC to the 7th Century, ...yeah, that long ago. They’re located in a horseshoe-shaped valley, hidden from view and long lost to the knowledge of people until rediscovered in the early 1800’s by the British.


An overall view of the Ajanta Caves from the top


The interior of one of the caves in Ajanta


Caves and sculptures didn’t really impress little Justin, as you can see - sound asleep


The centrepiece of the Ellora Caves, the Kailash Temple, a Hindu temple carved out of the rock in the 8th century. It features a massive central temple of more than 2 storeys high divided into two sections with an interconnecting bridge. This is surrounded by two storey abode-type structures chiseled out of the rock walls.








Views from different angles, Kailash Temple, Ellora


A three storey Buddhist monastery chiseled out of the rock about 1500 years ago, Ellora


The interior of a Buddhist cave in Ellora. The Ellora caves consist of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu Caves. They’re constructed between the 5th and the 10th century.


The interior of a Jain Cave, Ellora


A small waterfall near one of the Hindu caves, Ellora

The Western Ghats

The Western Ghats at dusk, from near Arthur’s Seat, Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra


Another view at dusk from Arthur’s Seat

Here’re more pictures of the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats are a range of mountains running down the entire western side of India but they’re not true mountains. They’re actually a range of cliffs forming the edge of a plateau, the Deccan Plateau, where most of the middle part of southern India actually sits on, (and where the big cities of Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad are located). If you go from the coast (i.e. Mumbai or Goa) inland, towards Pune, you’ll have to go up these huge cliffs to reach the central part of India.

And that’s about all I’ll write this time, ...thanks to the bloody tiring and thankless job.


Somewhere near Lonavala, half way between Mumbai and Pune. This picture is from Lion Point if I’m not mistaken (or is it Tiger Point?!?)


A view of Lonavala, from ...Lion Point?


The Karla Caves, near Lonavala – the interior of this Buddhist cave is even more impressive, but since it’s similar to the ones in Ajanta and Ellora (which I am gonna post soon... yeah, really, no kidding, ...I think), I’ll leave these out for now.


The hill where the Karla Caves are located. In ancient times, there’s nothing much to do, but to carve temples out of the mountain side. Luckily for them, now there’s something worth seeing.


Anu, at the Karla Caves


The steps up to the Karla Caves, not really pleasant during the hot and dry time that we stopped by.


The start of the walk up to the Bhaja Caves. We gave up after looking at the height of the mountain behind.


Half way between Aurangabad and Dhule, near the northern boundary of Maharashtra. Technically, this is not the Western Ghats. It’ll be more like the Northern Ghats if there’s such a thing, as I think this is the northern edge of the Deccan Plateau. Taken during one of my site excursions.


Somewhere nearer to Mumbai, Matheran – this was one place that I’ve never been to personally. This picture was taken by Anu, Kim or Dad back in Jan 2007, on a day trip, right after I and Anu got together and when I had to make a trip back to Malaysia alone to extend my visa.