Ajanta & Ellora

India is a land where impressive ancient art and sculpture are almost common; and, in certain places, their sheer numbercan amaze you. The Ajanta & Ellora Caves are built on a grander scale and contain more incredible art than most of themonuments and other sights India has to offer.

In a land where monuments a few hundred years old are fairly commonplace, these amazing achievements are also moreancient than most of the other destinations. Carved into the hard basalt of remote hillsides in Maharashtra, these caveshave remained miraculously undamaged over two millenniums.

You begin by being awed by their sheer size. Buddhist monks and other craftsmen began excavating, sculpting andpainting at Ajanta in the 2nd century BC. The incredible variety of paintings and sculpture were created in hard rock byusing elaborate and ingenious lighting, tools, and materials. These 28 caves are a testament to the devotion of the

Buddhists, as well as the talents of their skilled craftsmen. Ajanta's incredible paintings are even more amazing consideringthat the color and texture you're admiring was created by artists about two thousand years ago. Ajanta was known only to

the hill tribes till the early 19th century, when a group of British army soldiers were led to it by one of these locals.

During the 7th century, the Buddhists seemed to forget about Ajanta, and shifted to working about 80 km (50 miles) awayon the magnificently sculptured caves of Ellora. The next two centuries saw a resurgence of Hinduism, reflected by thecreation of the next 17 caves with Hindu themes, sculpture, and art; including Cave 16, the awe-inspiring "KailashTemple". Like all the other cave Temples, this one was created out of one rock. However, the significance of that factchanges when you put it in the perspective of this enormous structure.

The remaining four caves were created during Jainism's heyday in this region, and are built to a slightly smaller scale. TheEllora caves did see destruction under the Moghul Emperors; many shrines, and other art, were either destroyed ordamaged. Fortunately, most of the monuments survived, and can be experienced by us today.

Ajanta & Ellora is a World Heritage Sight

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India Tours Packages for this Sights

16 Day South India Visit

22 Day All India Visit Fisit

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As in the case of the Taj Mahal, the scale and splendor of these monuments has to be experienced, to be even partiallyunderstood. Easy Tours of India allows for ample time at Ajanta and Ellora on all our scheduled visits to Aurangabad.

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