First up, the Buddhist monastery at Ajanta (a two and a half hour drive out into the hills around Aurangabad). On the way, we were reminded that although we live in the enormous metropolis of Mumbai, around 70% of all Indians still live in small towns and villages and these people have a tough life. Note the photo of the woman carrying water on her head, walking along the highway -- there are few jobs out here that bring in money to the area. What little capital that does flow in comes largely through tourism.
The Ajanta caves were chiseled out of the cliffs overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river by hand by an unknown number of laborers funded through the donations of local wealthy families and rulers from around 2nd c. B. C. through 600 AD. We weren't sure which was more impressive: that each cave was cut out, one hammer stroke at a time, or the meticulously detailed paintings they used to adorn the caves. Although Ajanta is rightfully famous for its paintings, the carvings are pretty impressive. Notable were the 24-ft long reclining Buddha, the ceiling that gave the optical illusion that it was a piece of fabric blowing in the wind, and the scene of four deer all sharing the same head (see photo). These artistic and engineering achievements were mind blowing for us.
The paintings depict various scenes from the life of the Buddha including his rejection of all material possessions (he was a prince before he chose to become a monk), his wife trying to seduce him back by trying to get him drunk, and my favorite, the entire 'immaculate conception' dream had by his mother foretelling his coming from the metaphor of a six-tusked elephant -- it's interesting to see such similar scenes and messages in these Buddhist caves as the ones we have heard from the Bible. Thinking about these monks searching for their own spirituality gave us a connection to our own, 2200 years later. In addition to the paintings, we were able to get a sense of monastic life by seeing bedrooms and yes, even a chiseled out pillow. Like many of these blog entries, it is very hard to write about such a vastly immense and epic place -- see the pictures or do your own wikipedia research to get a better academic feel.
While the trip to Ajanta took the entire day -- 2.5 hrs to get there, four hours to see it, then a 2.5 hour trip back to the hotel -- seeing the next stage of monastic life was much easier. As the monastery at Ajanta (and Buddhism in India) was declining, the monastery at Ellora was growing. Just a 40min drive outside of the city into the hills, the monastic caves of Ellora had three overlapping religious phrases -- Buddhism from 600-800, Hinduism from 600-900 and Jainism* from 800-1000 (all dates A.D.). While the paintings are the draw at Ajanta, Ellora brings in tourists for its engineering marvel. Like the caves of Ajanta, all of the buildings at Ellora were carved down and out of the rock escarpment. No scaffolds were used (or needed)! The main Hindu temple in the group, the Kailasa Temple, covers twice the area of the Parthenon in Athens and is half again as high and the making of it created 200,000 tons of rock in waste. While the temples and caves of the Hindu group are extremely extravagantly decorated, the Jain carvings are much less grand, but more detailed. Where the Jain caves were smaller and built for lower numbers of monks, the Hindu assembly halls could hold thousand -- minutely decorated pillars and high ceilings.
We spent around 4 hours poking our heads around Ellora before the real enemy -- the heat and humidity -- took its toll and we were forced to enjoy the ubiquitous veg-thali lunch, the meal of the day option with four cup-sized dishes accompanied by rice, naan, and spices: all for around a dollar. As we got back into the car, our driver zipped us over to Daulatabad Fort, an imposing fort used by the Moghuls from around 1300 to 1650 AD.
Along with many other local Indian tourists (it was Gandhi Day, a national holiday, afterall), we ascended the hilltop fortress. Our path took us through the outer defenses, a town-like area, over the dry moat AND the wet moat, and through a pitch black dark, urine smelling, bat infested tunnel. We paid a local 10 rupees to take us through with a torch -- we would not have made it without him due to all the unexpected turns, wet and slippery rock, and complete darkness. After the tunnel and stairs, we had only reached the halfway point. Spirits were low with the group but after several water and cracker stops, we made it to the top drenched in sweat! The views were amazing and it was interesting to see the ruined outer wall from the medieval city still serving as a border to the town that resides at the bottom of the hill. Even more interesting, from the high hilltop view, you could see the next fort over on the next hilltop miles away. Although the majority fort has not been kept in great condition, the minaret/look out tower still looked great, all painted in orange.
After our tiring outing at the fort, our historical tour completed at the Bibi-qa-Maqbarra, the "mini Taj." The last Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb (from which the name of the city is derived) had an over zealous son. His son organized the building of a mauseleum for his mother inspired by the Taj Mahal. In the middle of the construction, the boss (his father) intervened and the scope of the project was reduced. From a gleaming white marble base, the workers were forced to transition to lime mortar resulting in a rather dilapidated look as lime mortar doesn't really keep its color. Either way, as the Lonely Planet (our beloved Biblia azul) says, "it remains a sight far more impressive than the average gravestone." So if you jumped straight to the pictures before reading this entry, NO, we did not go visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. Yet.
Our first trip outside of the city was a great success. It was fun to share it with new friends, learn a lot about the peak monastic periods of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, and also to spend time outside away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. Simple walking around and breathing fresh air and falling asleep to the sound of silence (as opposed to the honking horns of our street) was rewarding for us. While we love living in our apartment in our modern neighborhood, getting out for a weekend was great.
Take care,
Reid and Rachel
*Jainism: arose in 6th century B.C. as a reaction against the caste system; strictly nonviolent towards any and all living things; shares many of the same rituals and rites with Hinduism
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