Exploring the Ellora Caves
“India is a curious place that still preserves the past, religions, and its history. No matter how modern India becomes, it is still very much an old country.” – Anita Desai
Legend has it that the when the Buddha left this world, he instructed his followers to travel the length and breadth of the land preaching the teachings of the Buddhist path. And so it was, except for the monsoons, the rainy season when the rain came down in buckets and made travel impossible. First the monks found shelter in rough temporary dwellings that were pretty miserable in the rain but eventually they made their way to caves in the mountains where they established a community of sorts.
It is clear that Ajanta came first, did the people who worked on the Ajanta caves move here for some inexplicable reason?
In Ellora, the Buddhists occupied caves 1 through 12 of the 34 caves have been excavated. Here they carved the insides with the stories and legends of the Buddha. They seem to have begun to deviate a bit from the early ascetism because there are amorous statues carved in these caves that suggest a form of coyness that’s new. It’s a toss-up which came first, the Buddhist caves or the so-called Hindu caves (13 through 29) but as my guide told the story, the Hindu rulers decided they wanted to also carve the religious stories and forms of the current Hindu deities in the hills and scooped out tons of rock to create some of these rock caves. The last set of caves (30 - 34) are Jain.
Out of the total of 34 caves, I saw 2 Buddhist caves, 2 Hindu caves and 1 Jain Cave.
After traveling constantly for almost three weeks, I relaxed in the morning with a good breakfast, some stretching and music to set the right mind set. As we drove out of the hotel driveway, I asked my driver if the guide was going to meet us at the caves or if we were picking them up on the way. Whoa! as it turns out there had been some type of a snafu and there was no guide. A few frantic phone calls later it was decided that the driver would engage a guide on location. Thank God for my Zen feeling that kept me calm and meditative, unless there was something in the breakfast cappuccino.
As it turns out it’s pretty easy to get a licensed guide at the entrance at a far lower cost than I had pre-paid in my package. I went to buy my tickets with the instructions from the guide ringing in my ears to speak in Hindi and not English so I could purchase the lower priced tickets for Indian nationals and then we were off.
Outside the first cave we found a rock for me to be seated while the guide gave me the history and legend of the caves.
Each of the caves have multiple carvings. These caves represent the Buddha in a realistic form guarded by guardians and other mythical creatures.
While not a good picture source there is a niche with a Buddha in it that when the light hits at the right time, it appears as though the forehead is crowned with light like pictures of saints.
While none of the carved Buddha’s are the laughing Buddha’s of Chinese lore there was one with an exaggerated belly that I insisted on rubbing for good luck to the amusement of my guide.
Cave 10 is one of the most stunning caves of the Buddhist groupings. The chamber has 28 columns surrounding a decorated stupa with a massive preaching Buddha carved in the forefront. The details of the carvings and the overall impression in this vast hall are amazing. To think that these were carved using just hammer and chisel in these basalt caves.
During the monsoon months a waterfall runs through here though it was dry during my visit.
We skipped the Hindu caves for the moment and made our way all the way to the far end of the cave complex to the Jain Caves. Apparently, this is always the order so that the star of the complex the Kailasha temple is the last cave to be visited.
Cave 32 is reputed to be the finest of the Jain caves also known as the Indra Sabha. The cave has niches with carvings of Mahavir and Jain God Bahubali, and the gods of prosperity and generosity. The pillars are very finely carved, but I thought it was only fitting to depict the God of prosperity here amongst all the various carvings in this cave here.
The Ellora complex stretches across a fair distance that is relatively flat and so for a grand fee of $1 one can use the e-carts to take you from one end to the other. As we waited for the cart to fill up with more passengers I ran into a fellow adventurer.
She works at the Taj hotel in Mumbai. After her shift was over, she caught the night bus to Aurangabad and arrived at the cave complex at 6:00AM. She says she travels alone and every time she has a few days off work or a longish weekend she hops on a bus and makes her way to explore all that she can see, hear and feel. Definitely a fellow wanderer.
Before making our way to the creme de la creme cave we stopped at cave 29 which according to my guide was the practice cave. A stone mason had to graduate from here to be allowed to work on the Kailasha cave.
Full of light and air, this cave seems to be primarily dedicated to Shiva. This particular carving was one of my favorites depicting the wedding of Shiva and Parvati. Apparently, Parvati was so excited to be wedding her lord that she leapt forward and grabbed his hand without waiting for him to make his way to her. Here she is depicted holding his hand with a slight blush on her cheeks.
As we wandered through this cave, I ran into a French couple who were staying at my hotel. They said that they would consult their book and take pictures and notes and then go back to their room at night and research on the internet. They found this method better than engaging a guide whom they did not understand well. In addition, to all that one sees, tastes and touches I find these engagements with people and the stories that I gather almost if not more meaningful than the wandering itself.
Finally, cave 16 or the Kailasha cave. Local legend has it that the carving inside this cave is so fine that it could not have been done with a mere chisel and hammer. They think that extra-terrestrials landed on the X shape on the top of the cave and used cutting edge technology from a world far, far away to carve the myths and legends in this cave.
Also, this is the largest monolithic cave, and tons of rock was scooped out to make room for all the carvings inside. Where did all that rock go?
As you enter the complex you are greeted by the Goddess Gajalakshmi seated on a lotus flanked by her attendants with elephants sprinkling water over her.
Like all Hindu temples as you traverse left to the right you enter into an open courtyard that takes your breath away with the intricacy of the architecture and carvings.
Walking along all the chambers, pillars you make a full circle admiring the fine intricacies of the carvings. Supposedly it took 7000 laborers, removing 2000 tons of rock to create this temple hewn from a single rock.
My brain was whirling and my mind so full of the beauty that I had seen I made my way towards the exit. One of the things that I have seen all over India on this trip are all the school children who are brought to these monuments to see and appreciate the treasures they have in their backyard.
Sightseeing is thirsty work and I had been eyeing the fresh sugarcane juice everywhere I went on this trip. I finally succumbed thanks to the kindness of my driver who make sure the vendor scrubbed his equipment and washed the glass with mineral water so I could enjoy this treat without fear.
What an awesome way to end an awesome day.