India is undoubtedly the land of mysteries and controversial myths, all thanks to the history and stories that it possesses. From illustrating the art of making love to the unseen creatures painted on the walls of caves. These mysterious illustrations make people so intrigued that they are compelled to experience the narrative of that area. Personally, I like caves. The vibe inside each of them is unique and vivid from every other one.
The Kailasa TempleEllora
My best friend and I visited Aurangabad in the December of 2019 and one of the reasons for this trip was to experience Ajanta and Ellora. Out of the both, Ellora intrigued me so much more with main highlight, The Kailasa temple.
It was our Day 2 in Aurangabad. We boarded the tourism bus from the city bus stand which dropped us right outside the gate as it is on the way. The bus trip one way costed us Rs. 40 or $0.53 each. The entry fee costed us the same Rs.40 for Indian tourists and Rs. 600 or $7.91 for a foreign tourist ( rates may have fluctuated). On entering I saw a guy selling some colour full stones and I just couldn't resist myself to buy them (PS. Your bargaining skills should be dope) Then, there was the humongous, breathtaking temple of Kailasa in its whole grand seeming simply impossible to believe, even a thought of reverse engineering the structure is so daunting.
Around the temple
On entering the temple, there was this dense sound of silence with hardly any sunlight entering the temple. In the GARBHAGRIHA, I stood facing the MURTI and right about my head is a huge painting of Lord Shiva as the temple is dedicated to him. In addition, images of Shiva performing the TANDAVA, Mithunas (erotic male and female figures). With NANDI sitting at the entrance, this monolithic structure has all the components of a fundamental temple like the GARBHAGRIHA, MANDAPA etc,
Not sure about the theory but the information is apt
Moving on to the caves, there are a total of 34 caves in the Ellora cave system. 1-12 are Buddhist caves, 13-29 are Hindu and 30-34 are Jainism. We started with the cave 17 as it was the first after the temple. Each Hindu cave has a story to narrate about Lord Shiva, his ten incarnation, Goddess Ganga etc.
The waterfall with the way to the Jainism caves
After the 24th cave there is a mystic waterfall giving the caves a beautiful outlook. Try not to miss it! To reach the Jain caves there is a different way which involves taking a bus because of its location. If you lucky enough, the way below the waterfall will welcome you but we weren't that lucky :(. We walked back to the buddhist caves and trust me, they are the most intriguing ones. They are mainly VIHARAS where the monks meditate and reside. In all of them, cave 10 is the only CHAITYA and one of the finest in India. The ceiling features ribs and groves carved to perfection.
The Chaitya hall, Cave no 10Ellora
Thinking of the engineering, planning behind these structures will always be a mystery even if there are proofs presented. The mystery itself makes it so surreal and intriguing. Well, It consumed a good 5 hours excluding the Jain caves. There are many restaurants around the place with decent food. We then moved towards our next location the Daulatabad fort!
That was my experience about Ellora...Hope you like this one! Be sure to subscribe for updates
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