Road Tripper Abhishek

Discover Aurangabad - Daulatabad, Ellora & Ajanta

What is Aurangabad famous for? For my money, visiting Daulatabad fort (earlier known as Deogiri)and Ellora is the best reason to visit Aurangabad. Nothing beats the sheer majestic presence of these two heritage sites (Ellora is of course a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and you can lose yourself for days on end discovering the beauty of these sites.

For 2018, we planned an itinerary spanning Maharashtra, MP and Gujarat. Winters are the best time to be driving across these states, since the summers can be punishingly hot, so I figured our annual road trip is as good a time as any to explore this part of the country.

We headed out on 21 December, on a chill winter morning with Aurangabad being our first port of call. We drove towards Thane, which is to the North East of Mumbai and then onto NH 160 which goes through Nasik towards Aurangabad. The roads were once again very good and having left at 0600Hrs, by 0830Hrs we'd reached the outskirts of Nasik. There's a new (relatively I guess, since it's now nearly 5 years old) flyover that goes over the heart of Nasik city. We got onto this road and zipped through, getting a brilliant birds - eye view of the quaint town sprawled below us. Nasik looked really pretty in the early morning light, with sparse traffic, and what traffic was there didn't look in a tearing hurry to get anywhere either! The upside of this flyover was that in a matter of less than 15 minutes we'd crossed the town. The downside was that there absolutely no restaurant or dhaba that we came across for the next 30 minutes, and everyone was rearing for a bit of breakfast!

In 45 minutes of crossing Nasik we got to Niphad, which is about 40 Kms away and home to the boutique Riveilo vineyard and winery. Thankfully, a Hotel Rudray was open for business. After a meal of passable idlis, dosas and milky tea we were back on our way to Aurangabad. A rather uneventful drive of about 3 more hours along the Aurangabad - Nasik highway got us to our destination, The Meadows Resort and Spa at Aurangabad.

The Meadows is a sprawling resort on the road that leads to Daulatabad fort. As you get in, the first thing that hits you is that the lawns and grounds are untended. There is a feeling of wistfulness that this evokes, harking to a bygone era of glory, made even more piquant by the sorry state of disrepair and neglect evident all around you. We'd booked a family cottage of sorts, and the room was huge, very well - furnished with an open lawn, comfortable beds and bathrooms with every creature comfort. The only issue was that most of the things had seen better days, and weren't functional! The faucets weren't sure which way to turn for hot water to run through, the couch sagged at one corner, the television was disconnected, window frames were slightly jammed and everything seemed a little dirty for some reason. Nevertheless, we used the facilities, dressed and decided to visit the Daulatabad fort, which is around 10Kms from the resort.

En route, a couple of kms before the fort we stopped at a quaint dhaba for a sumptuous meal of mutton curry with naan, prepared and served by an extremely cultured gentleman, who spoke impeccable urdu! The meal was served on wooden trestle tables, with us seated on 'khaats', using dented steel plates and bowls - dented they may have been, but everything was spotlessly clean and hygienic. The mutton itself was cooked in a slightly oily, though delicious brown gravy of onions and tomatoes with a garlic and ginger seasoning and the hot Naans simply soaked it all up! After a most satisfying meal, we headed to the Daulatabad fort, getting there around 1600Hrs.

Apart from the usual gaggle of poorly constructed shops with their accompanying garbage outside the fort, the monument itself was reasonable clean and well maintained. We took one of the government licensed guides (highly recommended) to walk us through the monument and it's history.

A quick rundown of the fort - Daulatabad fort is supposed to be around 1200 years old and was built by the Rashtrakutas / Yadava dynasty, depending on who you ask - irrespective, it was originally called the Deogiri / Devgiri fort. It changed hands down to Alaudin Khilji and then Muhammad Bin Tughlaq (remember the 'mad' king who shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and then back to Delhi? Yup, same bloke) who renamed it as Daulatabad. The colonial / Nehruvian history aside, legend has it that this was the abode of Shiva, hence the surrounding hills were named Devgiri, from where the fort gets it's original name. Today, this stands as a massive, beautiful structure, a mute witness to a bygone era.

Posing with the Chand Minar in the background - an ode to the Qutb Minar of Delhi

Entry to the fort is pretty well organised, and as we walked in with Joshi - guide, we saw masons at work in different places. According to MR. Joshi, in the last 3 years the ASI has carried out more repairs and restorations to the fort, than they've done in the last 50 years! Politics aside, it was really nice to hear that finally there is a government that cares about restoring our heritage and monuments that go beyond the Mughal era.

The Chand Minar in it's resplendent glory

Like most forts of it's era, Deogiri too is built atop a hill (2 adjacent hills actually), and the layout is such that any attacking army would need to circle upon itself at least a couple of times as they entered the fortress. Right from the first gate itself, there is no single path that goes straight for more than 50 odd meters before turning acutely and ending in a door. This meant that war elephants couldn't be used as battering rams, since they simply wouldn't be able to generate the momentum required to break down the doors! Likewise, each time there is an incline (and there are several, the fort being on a hill), steps have been cut into the ground, necessitating that cavalry and elephants would have to slow down while ascending, since neither of these animals are great at climbing steps, negating the possibility of an outright charge. There are other cute things too that the builders have done, like, at one point you make a turn and are faced with a wall. To the left is a massive door, apparently leading into the fort, and to the right is a smaller door. Naturally, given the grandeur of the left door, and the fact that the fort also seems to be on the left, attackers would want to break down that first. Except, the left door leads to a dead end from where the defenders can get their jollies dropping boiling oil, javelins, arrows and other little nicknacks on the attackers for their collective entertainment. You've got to admit this was the pre - internet era and free entertainment was understandably hard to come by.

Once you make it past the 5 to 6 gates (I forget how many exactly), you get to the main complex, which is a small town in itself. There are separate ponds for horses, the commoners, women of the harems, higher officials, the queens and of course the kings. Each of these, besides a main reservoir, are fed by a siphon system that brings in water from a nearby river - this system was built by Tughlaq, and is truly a marvel of sustainable development! All through this journey, there are small things done to prevent the onslaught of an attacking army. In the unlikely event of an attacking army making it this far, at the end of the fort there is a bridge connecting to the adjoining hill. About 30 meters across, this covers a sheer drop which forms a natural moat. On the other side is the final defense of the incumbents - a small castle right atop the peak, getting to which necessitates the attacker should pass 3 ' kaalkothris ' - each of these is huge, pitch dark, with many cute defences like venomous snakes, attacking bats (whatever the hell that must've been), invisible holes in the ground that plummet thousands of meters down and invisible holes in the roof that provide an unending supply of oil to ensure you slip through the holes in the ground. In other words, you'd think it would've been a better idea to return after enjoying the hot oil poured down from the initial gates.

One of several pillared courtyards in the main fort complex

Coming back to the main fort, the friendly neighbourhood Mughal, Aurangzeb built something called the 'Chini Mahal'. I couldn't quite see what was so great about it, but I guess it must've been formidable in it's heydays. The infamy of this joint is that Sambhaji Maharaj, the Maratha ruler was kept in captivity here by Aurangzeb. Apparently, Aurangzeb offered him a deal - convert to Islam, marry his daughter and become a vassal of the Mughals. The alternative is what Sambhaji chose, which was to have his eyes burnt out and every inch of skin flayed from his body spread over several weeks or months leading to an excruciatingly painful and torturous death eventually by beheading. Nevertheless, we have a prominent road in our capital named after Aurangzeb, with nothing named after Sambhaji. Weird, or maybe I'm missing something here! What's worse is that this glaring factoid of history amongst other 'silly little' misdemeanours of Aurangzeb is glossed over in our history books. Pathetic, to say the least.

To my mind, the high point of the fort is the installation of the idol of Bharat Mata (Mother India)! One of the main temples of the fort was desecrated and converted to a mosque when Tughlaq took charge (as with most temples across the country). Apparently, when the Indian forces under Sardar Patel won against the Nizam of Hyderabad, they 'reclaimed' this temple, and installed an idol of Bharat Mata. Interesting fact - this is the first idol of Bharat Mata where she isn't shackled by any chains, indicating the freedom of the country!

The unchained BHARAT MATA, installed by the brave soldiers of the Indian Army at the Deogiri Fort

On our way back I called the Mumbai office of the Meadows resort and whined to them about the state the property was in. They were kind enough to agree to a full refund on the advance we'd paid, and we checked in at the Keys Hotel in Aurangabad, what with every other hotel being sold out due to some convention taking place around the same time in Aurangabad. tHE Keys is a very efficient business hotel. Good rooms and restaurant and really nothing to particularly complain about. Next morning, post breakfast we left to check out Ajanta and Ellora caves.

Each time I see the Ellora caves, I can't get over the sheer scale of construction of the Kailasa temple! It is one of the most stupendous examples of human endeavour one can come across anywhere in the world. The chariot - shaped temple, carved out of one massive mountain painstakingly over God alone knows how many hundreds of years, is a feat that rivals the pyramids! You could of course go by what historians say, that the Rashtrakutas made it somewhere in 700AD. Personally, I think the Rashtrakutas 'discovered' and possibly embellished the temple around that period, and the date being bandied about was part of the 'cultural domination' policy followed by Imperial Britain and the Nehru - Azad coterie.

The magnificent Kailasa temple of Ellora in the backdrop. Of course one can dig ones nose anywhere...

Look at the historical evidence - there is not one other building or structure that even comes close to the engineering marvel and architectural genius that is the Kailasa temple, built by the Rashtrakutas. Sure, they were a powerful dynasty and deserve their place in history. But credit them with building the Kailasa temple in some 20 years? I don't think so! Also, consider this - the subterranean caves of the Kailasa temple have been sealed now, but legend has it that during the great flood (remember Noah's ark?), this cave apparently made by Lord Shiva, served as sanctuary for several thousand humans, animals, birds, insects, micro - organisms and fish.

One of several intricately carved caves in the Jain cave complex

Another factor is that the only way the temple could've been built was by carving from the peak of the mountain, downwards. Aerial photography suggests the symmetry of carving is perfect to the .0001 percentile margin of error. That is a feat which anyone would be hard - pressed to achieve even today, let alone in 700AD. And that, achieved while carving downwards, without the use of aerial photography / cartography or any other such tool to visualise what was being done! Bottomline - the origins of the cave and Kailasa temple itself are shrouded in mystery, despite the establishment's best attempt to force - fit it into their convenient narrative.

We spent a blissful 2 hours simply gazing at the exquisite carvings at the temple, before visiting the Buddhist and Jain caves. It would take days and days of effusive language to even come close to describing the detailing that has gone into the carving of these temples - suffice to say, they merit a visit over at least 3 to 4 days, to truly do them justice!

After 2 hectic days of revisiting Indian history, heritage and culture, we were a tired but happy lot. We wound up with a quiet celebratory drink back at the hotel, all set for the next phase of our adventure, come morning!

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