Ellora caves

Ellora caves are 28kms from Aurangabad, its declared as world heritage centre along with Ajanta caves by UNESCO. Thanks to the Government for the commendable effort and the funds granted by UNESCO, these monuments are well protected, unusually clean and neat although a lot of damage has been done as in case of many other Architectural wonders in this country.
There are 34 caves altogether, products of Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism containing elaborate carvings of gods, goddesses and remarkable memorials of the three great faiths of Hinduism they represent. Each system has its individual style of architecture and Ellora presents us with these varied styles side by side. The sculptural work also reveals the contrast. The excavations on a sloping hill-side are spread over an area of about 2 kms, north to south. Caves 1 to 12, making the southern series are Buddisht. 13 to 19 belong to brahminism and the last five caves are of the Jainism style.
These caves have been excavated over a span of 6 centuries, the Buddhist caves being earliest (500-700 A.D.) The main entrance leading into the parking area faces cave 16, in the Brahmanical series and I started from here and proceeded towards the southern side.
Cave 16 is celebrated as the Kailasa, Shiva’s mountain abode, is by far best of all Ellora excavations. This famous monument displays one of the finest rock cut architecture of its time. Built between 8th and early 9th century, it is regarded as greatest monolithic structure. The entire architecture is in fact, a gigantic sculptural piece. It features life size elephants, a victory pillar and the galleries on either side offers renderings of shiva legends, most of them with goddess Parvati to the north and variations of lord Vishnu to the south. There are also a shrine of Nandi, a pillar on each side of it which are among the best works of art in Kailasa and the central shine containing great Linga among others.
Cave 15 is reached after a long climb of stairs. Double storyed, it has a courtyard with several small shrines and chambers. In the upper hall the vestibules on two walls contains reliefs carved with great delicacy. The shrine holds a lingam and facing it is the Nandi , an inevitable feature of all Shiva shrines.
Cave 14 serves as introduction to the Brahmanical order as there is nothing noticeable in Cave 13. It displays Goddess Durga, Lord Vishnu on the left panel, the shrine houses Goddess Lakshmi and on the left panel is Lord Shiva and Parvati.

Buddhist Excavations:
The Buddhist excavations are classified into Viharas and Chaityas, Viharas mostly containing cells for residing people and Chaityas being halls dedicated for teaching, prayers which houses a Buddha image as a main feature.
Cave 1, is possibly the earliest excavation at Ellora. It is a plain Vihara with 8 cells.
Cave 2, looks like a Chaitya hall. A lion-throne holds the huge Buddha image, a symbol of royal state and galleries have figures of Buddha seated on Lotus in the traditional posture of a preacher. There are several Bodhisatvas.
Cave 3, has a chapel. The Buddha here is seated on a lotus supported by snakes displaying the snake heads.
Cave 5, is the largest in series, a Vihara, There a twenty four pillars holding the roof, and there is a chapel with a Buddha image inside.
Cave 6 displays several interesting sculptures including Buddhist folklore, Goddess Saraswati.
Cave 10 is a Chaitya hall, the façade richly decorated, carved roof and figures in the base relief above the pillars are fine creations. A staircase leads to a large pillared court and a gallery.
Caves 11 and 12, are by far the most important in this group. They are large three storey structures. Cave 12 is bigger of the two and most impressive. There is a huge Buddha figure in the shrine here.
Brahmanical excavations:
Cave 17 has huge pillars and interior Garbh Gruh houses Lingam, images of Lord Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesh and Mahishasura Mardhini
Cave 18 and 19 contains Shiva ling in the Garbh Gruh.
Cave 20 houses images similar to ones in cave 17.
Cave 21 has an attractive façade, In front of it, there’s a Nandi on a raised platform, closeby are the figures of the river Goddess Yamuna and Ganga. Inside the chamber, Parvati’s marriage to lord Shiva is set in a panel fitting almost the entire wall.
Cave 25 is huge, its interior contains the image of Sun god on a rath with seven horses.
Cave 27 contains images of Vishnu, Balram, Krishna and also Varaha awatara and Mahishasura Mardhini.
Cave 29 is a massive structure, there’s an image of lord shiva with eight arms and another image of Shiva dancing. There’s a waterfall between cave 29 and cave 28, and a narrow path to cross.

Jain excavations:
These caves are about a kilometer away to the north. The most important ones among them are caves 32 and 34.
Cave 32 is known as Indra Sabha, the entrance has an elephant and a column, the shrine here has a decorative ceiling carved into symbolic lotus, this has figure of Lord Mahavira, founder of this faith. The upper story of this cave represents the finest worksmanship, also the pillars and walls in this cave carry ornamental work of great delicacy. Cave 34 can be reached from Indra Sabha by a passage. It has a separated entrance also, with a finely carved arch. The jain images have a peculiar heaviness and these caves have very decorative pillars.

This ends the tour of Ellora caves, it took me about 5 hours and at the end of it, i feel its not yet over there's a feeling of things left unfinished. You dont get to witness such fine work every day after all. it not only lets you witness the history, one becomes a part of it and so was I, after coming back here and thinking of getting back to my routine of office work and other things, i cant help wondering if i lived in an entire different dimension of time and space during the last two days. Wish it was true and i could continue...