Ajanta, Ellora,

Aurangabad and Lonar

A photographic report of a

memorable tour of the pastBy Suneel Sule

Ellora Caves

Carved during Chalukya and Rashtrakoota dynasties between

1500 to 1000 years ago

Kailash Temple

An engineering marvel, cut from a single rock, working from top down.

I do not know those people, nor were they good looking. They are included for scale.

Although the world knows him only

as a villain, Ravana was a great

devotee of Lord Shiva. When he ran

out of flowers to offer, he used 9 of

his heads as offerings to the

shivalinga.

A rare feat possible for only those

who have heads to spare.

Being God does not guarantee

eternal peace, godhood too has its

ups and downs.

Here Ravana, in an attempt to show

off his strength, picked up the Lord’s

abode, the Kailash mountain on his

head. As he gave it a nasty shaking,

Parvati was terrified, but Lord Shiva

simply crushed Ravanas’s mighty

hand with his toe and then all was

well.

Effective curbing of terrorism dates

back to much older times than we

would imagine.

Very often

Sahaivas and

Vaishnavas

are sworn

enemies; but

the Chalukya

and

Rashtrakoota

rulers

respected

Lord Vishnu

as well.

Here we see the entire Ramayana carved out of stone.

Life was indeed difficult before cut-and-paste technology was invented.

Religeous tolerance of the

rulers was not limited to the

Vaishnavas alone; it extended

to Buddhist and Jain subjects

too. Out of the 34 caves of

ellora 17 are Hindu, 12

Buddhist and 5 Jain. This is one

Jain cave.

Each religion showed

architectural peculiarities. While

the Hindus lay emphasis on

human figures depicting

mythological heritage; the Jains

decorated the pillars with

elaborate ornamentation.

As it turns out, pillars were the

pillars of strength of Jain

architecture.

7000 workers worked for 150

years and dug out 300,000 tons

of rock to complete this majestic

temple.

…but it did not take comparable efforts to

destroy and disfigure

Allauddin Khiljee sent his general Malik Kafur to the Deccan on a single point agenda.

Destruction.

Devagiri, the hill of Gods

In 12th century A.D. Yadava king Bhillama built a fort on this geological marvel

Allauddin Khiljee conquered the fort

through sheer brute power and

cruelty. King Ramdeva surrendered

and became a vassal of Khiljee. The

fort was renamed as Daulatabad

Fort. It was recaptured by both sides

a few times.

This monument Chand Minar was

built to commemorate one such

conquest in the 15th century.

Bibi ka Maqbara, poor man’s [or woman’s?] Taj Mahal,

built in the memory of Aurangzeb’s 4th wife, by her son.

If you are ever tempted to compare Bibi ka Maqbara with the Taj, look

at any picture of the Taj and the temptation will evaporate.

Ajanta

160 k.m. north of Aurangabad are the 2200 years old Buddhist caves of Ajanta.

For close to 1500 years after their completion these caves

remained abandoned. They were hidden from view with

growth of vegetation. This is what saved them from the evil

eye of the iconoclasts.

In the year 1819, while on a hunting mission, Maj. John Smith spotted this arch. The

then ruler, Nizam of Hyderabad ordered excavation and restoration. Today these caves

are declared world heritage and are being given the care they deserve.

Michelangelo be not proud.The prestige of Ajanta caves lies not only in their sculptures but also in intricate

paintings depicting tales of previous incarnations of the Buddha.

In one of his incarnations, the Buddha was a

six tusked white elephant

Until recently the caves were unlit to protect the paintings. Now optical fibres carry gentle light into the caves.

A fusion of Heenayana and Mahayana styles showing a stoopa with idol of the Buddha

Mahanirvana: The Buddha departs

It was an occasion of simultaneous mourning and celebration.

While the mortals on earth mourned, the heavenly beings celebrated the arrival of the great soul

Chatting

with an

old

friend

on the

way

back.

• =

Long long long long ago40000 years back a meteor struck the Maharashtra plateau at Lonar.

It formed a crater 2 k.m. in diameter and hundreds of meters deep.

It is the only hypervelocity meteoritic crater in basaltic rock

and third largest in the world.

One of the ancient temples of Lonar.

Built in Hemadpanti style, it is made up of interlocking stones, no mortar or cement.

This temple was hidden under a mound of mud to avoid destruction by the invaders.

Waiting for a ringside view of the next meteor hit.

It takes a tiger’s courage for such brave acts.

Sabse rangeen subaha teri sabse rangeen teri shaam, tuzpe dil qurbaan

The MTDC resort which offered us shelter for the night and a view of the crater

Returning

home with

loads of

happy

memories.