The road to Aurangabad was surprisingly, very good, in spite of it not being an 'NH' (National Highway) and only an 'SH' (State Highway). We reached Aurangabad by 4.30 PM and stayed at MTDC resthouse there. They had rooms only for Sat and not for Sun. Hence, we went in search of a hotel for our Sun stay. I wanted to see Bibi ka maqbara (The poor man's Taj), which is the mausoleum of Aurangzeb's 4th wife. As per a documentary in Discovery that I saw a few months back, Aurangzeb had a hatred for arts (I remember reading in the History text of Class VI or VII, mention about Dara Shukoh being Shah Jahan's favourite and hence Aurangzeb's hatred!), and wanted this monument to be very basic, except for minimal usage of marble. I found the concept of this monument to be great.
Next day morning, we were off to Ajanta (110 km from Aurangabad). Indian Express had a recent series of articles on 'Preserving our Heritage', where they said that Ajanta & Ellora are among the best and most well maintained sites in India (the other being Mahabalipuram). At Ajanta, there are proper parking facilities and shops for all the hawkers, about 4 km away from the caves, so that at the caves you are left to get immersed in a wonderland made rich by unknown monks - noone knows where they came from and where they went to! The guide who approached us had a standard rate of Rs 350/-, it was definitely worth, is what all of us felt. The caves are not numbered in any particular sequence. Cave 1 dates back to 6th century AD, and contains lots of paintings. The unique thing about Ajanta is the cave paintings. Being caves, there was no 'construction', but rock carved out into pillars, halls, ceilings and floors by hammer and chisels! On top of this there is a layer of mud+cowdung mixture, which was tied into the wall/ceiling with glue etc. On top of this the paintings etc were done. Once this was over, lime was coated and then polished to give a glossy finish! And all this happened between 2nd century BC to 6th centry AD. The first time it struck me was in Khajuraho. This was like, further reinforcement of that hypothesis - that our ancestors were way ahead of their times and even our times. Think about it - the concept of Buddhism is probably still way ahead of the current times! Another striking feature of the paintings are that these are about Buddhism - jataka tales, about mythological stories etc, and none about the monks lives. The garments worn then, the depiction of Mongol looking people and blue colour from Iran speaks volumes of the 'globalised' world then! The stand outs in these cave paintings were a 3-D bull on the ceiling (from wherever you looked, the bull appears to be directed towards you - as a whole, not just the face!), 4 deers with a single face, glistening jewellery, and the famous Monalisa like painting which is known for the symmetry and the expression on the face. All this is very difficult to narrate - hopefully, the VCD I bought will have details on all these. But still, it has to be experienced in person, is what I feel. It turned out that the guide was an 'MA History' (incidental that he was also a Muslim!). Unlike the guide in R. K. Narayan's Guide, he was very knowledgable. He pointed out that early Ajanta caves were Hinayana and subsequent ones Mahayana and in cases, Mahayana influence has been re-added into the Hinayana caves - Buddha's figure sculpted into a stupa, for instance. He also mentioned that Ellora will have Hindu and Jain caves too. Reminded me of another guide at Louvre in Paris, who was also a historian. I used to wonder if this kind of thing - that educated historians as guides - can happen in India. Well, sounds too good to be true, but yes, India is not that behind either.
There is also the scenery - Ajanta caves have been carved out of a gorge that is a perfect horse-shoe in shape. At Ajanta, there is a waterfall leading to a river, whereas in Ellora there are 2 scenic small waterfalls. It was accidental that a British military man spotted a tiger disappear into a cave, and reported the matter to the govt. Excavations in 1820s revealed the caves. Was it not good in hindsight that the caves were not found for close to 15 centuries - or else, like any other place, marauders would have mutilated the caves, one after the other?
We also went to the hillock from where the Britishers spotted the cave - it's truly an amazing sight. From there, we went directly to Ellora and stayed at a hotel (a bit costly though) there. The hotel contained cottages and had very beautiful landscaping - one could also see the caves from here. The next morning we went to the caves. Ellora, unlike Ajanta is of more 'recent' vintage - 6th and 7th century AD. But, given that for some reason Ajanta was hidden and all the monks had left, Ellora caves do not have paintings, but only sculptures. Hence, at Ellora one gets to see the magnificent Kailasa temple - the largest monolithic (out of a single stone) structure in the world. But here, as in almost all other caves, the sculptures are all damaged - maybe the price to pay for not remaining hidden, unlike Ajanta! The scale of the building, if one tries to visualise of it being carved out of stone directly from the top to bottom with just chisels and hammers, makes one gasp in wonderment. Apart from this temple, there are 34 caves (4 Jain, many Buddhist and Hindu), with temples, monasteries (viharas) or prayer halls (chaityas). Ajanta too had around 30 caves. In one of the caves, there was a sweeper who explained the concept of the architecture to us (he was obviously expecting some money). What stood out was his ability to relate across religions and also the chant of Buddham sharanam gachami. Luckily, there was no one in the cave then and the acoustic effect was phenomenal.
On the way back, we passed by Daulatabad fort. Daulatabad was where Mohammed-bin-Tughlaq shifted his capital to, from Delhi (with the population (en masse) and reshifted back to Delhi. The fort looked imposing. Also close by was Khultabad, where Aurangzeb's tomb is located. Aurangzeb too shifted the capital from Delhi to Aurangabad. It seems that his mausoleum was constructed with just Rs 14.75 (the money he earned by weaving clothes). Apparently, he was very particular that the money of the public should not be 'wasted' in such buildings (like The Taj)! So much for a much reviled and maligned Mughal king.
Although the trip was a bit expensive, for me it was close to 'historical nirvana'. So would it be, for anyone interested in history, I believe. I have always felt that Ajanta Ellora are reasonably close to the pyramids of Egypt, for the scale and magnificence of the achievements. Maybe, someday one would get to see Egypt too, who knows. Ajanta has a further ring of mystery - the true motivation behind those monks doing all these has not been known yet!
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