Ajanta and Ellora Caves

The final two days of the trip have been more about some of the culture in the region. The Ajanta Caves (200 BCE) were carved into the side of a meander bend where the river is incising into the Deccan Plateau. The Caves were a tribute to Buddha, and depict his life. Buddhist monks came to this place to meditate. Today we went to Ellora Caves, a Hindu temple that was carved from the top down (7th century). It is quite remarkable. It would seem that they worked so hard on the walls that they didn’t have any energy to make the floors smooth - I figured this out when I rolled my ankle... it is okay, the total yard sale wasn’t captured on video. 

We are back into Delhi tonight, and the conference starts tomorrow afternoon. I am not sure the conference will be worthy of a day-by-day blog post, but I will keep you posted. 

Panoramic shot of the Ajanta caves, not sure how this will turn out on the blog. 





The knick point. 

One of the Buddhas- it is amazing how the work has been carved. 

Caves. 

Inside the Ellora cave (Hindu temple). This was carved from the basalt from the top down (and probably a little bit from the side). 


It took 200 years to carve (the started in the mid 700s, and between the 9th and 11th centuries some of it was repainted. 

Another beautiful day.