India's Amazing Ajanta Caves
Indian Cave Temples Near Aurangabad - UNESCO World Heritage Site
Aug 25, 2008
A little over 2 hours from India's old city of Aurangabad, the 32 caves here are not natural caves but were painstakingly hewn out of the hills centuries ago by thousands of workers using nothing more than hammers and chisels. Hollowed out of the volcanic basalt rock, craftsmen meticulously chiselled away at the rock face and gradually enlarged the cavities, leaving columns (which were later shaped and engraved to form pillars and figures) at strategic places and creating massive chambers within the rock. The flat walls and roof were then decorated by carving intricate relief patterns as well as by applying plaster on which artists created colourful paintings.
Most of the paintings are over 1500 years old. Ten centuries before the birth of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci and the European Renaissance, these unknown artists knew how to depict perspective, depth and realism in their paintings. The expressions and emotions captured on the faces of their subjects – for example the sadness on the face of Queen Shivali or the poignant Padmapani Bodhisattva - are so true to life, even when viewed today centuries after their creation!
The oldest of the caves dates back to the 2nd century before Christ. Some of them are Viharas (monasteries) – large chambers with small rooms (cells) leading off from the main chamber for the monks to live in. Some cells have a carved stone bed, complete with a raised stone ‘pillow’ on which a monk can rest his head. The remaining caves are Chaityas (temples) – strikingly similar to Christian cathedrals with ribbed vaulted roofs (the ribs being carved out of stone to resemble wooden beams), carved decorated stone pillars, and in the nave (where a Christian church would have its altar) a large hemispherical stupa with or without a life-size figure of the Buddha sculptured in relief. Remembering that these stone carved temples were created centuries before the cathedrals of Europe, one is almost tempted to speculate that the architectural inspiration for Europe’s cathedrals came, not from the rectangular temples of classical Greece and Rome, but from the vaulted cave temples of India.
Ajanta is one of those “must-see” places for any tourist visiting India. Be mesmerised by the expressive and lifelike figures depicted in these colourful paintings. Pause to admire the carved statues of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Fashioned out of the rock face these statues have been exposed to the elements for over a millennium – and yet remain so lifelike and serene. Marvel at the work of the architects and engineers who, long before computers and even the slide rule were invented, drew up the plans and oversaw the building of these monuments and reflect for a moment on the innumerable nameless artists and sculptors who created in this wilderness what could truly be described as a heavenly realm.
Getting there: Daily international flights to the international airport at Mumbai from where domestic flights (Jet Airways or Air India) take forty minutes to Aurangabad - then a two hour drive to Ajanta.
Further information from India Tourism.
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