Thursday 10th January, 2013.

Hello,

It has been a long day but now we are settled back in Mumbai
Once again our flight was delayed by 1 hr.

Aurangabad  is one of the fastest growing cities in the world
pop.11/2 mil.  Migrant workers, i.e. seasonal workers, now
tend not to return home.  They live under plastic in the most
appalling conditions.  Downtown Aurangabad is like a war
zone. Houses are being demolished to enable the road to be
widened.  People, goats, cattle, dogs, scooters, cars and trucks
are all out there causing chaos.
Aurangabad was once a walled city (2nd c BC and had 52 gates.
25 of which are still be used.  We saw 11.

We set off in the most superb weather for the Ellora Caves with
just one stop at Daulatabad where the Deogiri Fort is  Set high
above the road, this imposing mogul structure which dates back
to the 12thcAD and has 5 magnificent gateways. The weather was
a bit hazy.

Our 30k journey to the Ellora caves was done in record time.  I am sure our
driver had been a Kamikaze pilot in another life.
The first impresssion of Ellora is of a smaller site that Ajana which has 63
caves to 34 at Ellora.  It is however very impressive.
These caves are also hewn out of rock and date back to the 5710thc BC.
Ellora also has a World Heritgae listing.  Much reconstruction is being done.
These caves encompass the 3 religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jinism.  They are both temples and monasteries .

The most impressive of the 34 caves is the Kailasa temple.  The entire
structure was carved out of a monolith, took 100 years to complete and
200,000 tonnes of rock was removed.  It is a huge area.  The couryards
are edged with columns that are 3 storeys high.  The galleries are adorned
with enormous sculptures of the different deities and tell the tales of all
its myths and history.

 

The Jain faith is quite separate as they broke away from the teachings of Buddha.

   

           Indra -Sabha is a Jaina monument to the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

 This is a very quick look and potted history of this truly amazing site.
I do hope that you will spare a moment to look them up.

     Indra Sabha is also Jaina and a powerful dancing Shiva.

 

Here if you take a close look at the ceiling you can see

how it has been carved to resemble a wooden roof.

Our last stop on the way back to the hotel was the Bibi-Ka-Maqbara

monument.  As with the Taj Mahal a grieving widower has erected

a shrine to his wife whose untimely death left him devastaed.

This mini Taj is not the greatest - out of proportion not made of

marble, towers are taller that main building etc. but I say that it

is the thought that counts.  The gardens were well tended.

Friday 11th January, 2013.

We have spent this a.m. at the galleries and now we are regaining our composures

around the pool.

Cheers!!!

Vivienne.