I am not a full time traveler but if I don’t travel at least once in a month, the travel bug starts moving in my head, so mostly what I do is that whenever I have consecutive 2-3 days holidays including weekend, I take one or two leaves and go for a short trip. This time is visited Ellora Caves in my weekend break.
Ellora is one of the best known historical monuments in India. Ellora’s wealth lies in the caves sculptures and rich architecture. It is the only cave complex where cave temples of all the major religions of ancient India, i.e., Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism are found together.
At Ellora itself, I saw all 34 caves in a little over four hours, sequentially admiring the work of artists of different faiths.The caves are numbered for the visitor's convenience. I walked through them in order, marveling at the paucity of people. A large section of it is still shrouded in mystery and is waiting to be explicated.I saw that every pillar, alcove and niche at Ellora is carved from solid rock. Every detail of their clothing, ornaments and headdresses rendered with minute precision.
Cave 12 is a three-storied edifice carved in the seventh century to serve as a hostel for the monks. Each room cut into the rock has a carved stone bed, complete with stone pillow, and a niche cut into the wall for the monk's lamp.
Hindu Cave 16 is the largest monolithic carving in the world : Kailas Temple (after the god Shiva). Kailash temple is the biggest and best part to visit in Ellora. Centrally located this Hindu temple is unique in nature as the structure is made from one rock.
I sat on an ancient ledge and looked out to where the water cascaded sudden and silvery from the hillside. After lunch, when I tried to venture farther into the cave, I found it had been cut so deeply into the hill that no sunlight ever reached its farthest interior.
As I was leaving the caves and taking a last glance at the caves I realized that beauty of these caves do not need any word to mesmerize a person. These caves are beyond the limits of words and a human imagination... These caves gave me a clear thought that a human creature can do anything at any point of time in history and become an inspiration of its future generations.... and no amount of technology can bet the craft done by them ...
Tips to visit Ellora Caves :
1) Try to reach early in the morning to beat the crowds. Also it gives you a chance to see the structures come alive with the rising sun.
2) Wear comfortable footwear and carry your own water bottle.
