Aurangabad (Ajanta Caves)
India 2017
We tried to get up early; today we had the Ajanta Caves on our itinerary. It’s a full 100 kilometers to get there. We didn’t have to wait long for the bus, and we even managed to get seats.
Soon the bus stopped, and a lot of people got on at the stop, so we squeezed in a thin little old lady as a third person. And that’s how the three of us rode all the way on two seats. Giving up your seat is not customary in India. And standing for 3 hours somehow doesn’t seem serious.
We arrived at the caves at noon. It was very hot. The Ajanta Caves are Buddhist caves carved into the rock in the 5th–8th centuries. There are 30 caves here.
View of the caves
All the caves are mostly very similar to one another. It is a large hall with columns; in some caves, amazing rock paintings have been preserved, telling the story of the life of Buddha and other important figures of Buddhism. Visitors are not allowed close to the paintings, and all the caves are in semi-darkness, so it is quite difficult to see them in detail, but even from afar they are impressive. I especially liked the colorful ornaments on the ceilings.
Inside the cave, remnants of drawings are visible on the walls and ceiling
In all the caves in the center, a large statue of Buddha is carved out.
Buddha
Some caves are beautifully decorated on the outside; there was one interesting unfinished cave that had only just begun to be made, and it remains unfinished to this day.
A cave beautifully decorated on the outside
Unfinished cave
Another cave
We ran from one cave to another; it was cool inside the caves. Still, I was very tired by the end. So we even decided not to climb up to the viewing platform, from which there is a beautiful view of the caves, and headed back.
We sat by the road and started waiting for the bus. After some time, a jeep pulled up, the same kind we had taken back from Ajanta; apparently, these jeeps serve as their minibuses, not the best choice for this kind of transport, of course.
We jumped into the jeep and took the front seats, and off we went. This time, either the driver was more sensible, or there simply were no fellow passengers, but we only stopped a couple of times to pick up more people, and even then only for the empty seats.
We got to Aurangabad when it was already completely dark. We went to have dinner at our favorite little restaurant. We even have our own table there now.
Tomorrow we’re leaving our beautiful hotel. Sigh.
