The Ajanta Caves

Apologies for my Blip absence - the ship’s basic wifi makes blipping impossible - so we’ve waited for a day’s paid upgrade. I hope to catch up, so there’ll be an awful lot of entries! 

The main reason for us coming to Aurangabad is to visit the cave temples at Ajamta and Ellora. To be honest, before this trip, I’d never heard of either but they have the reputation of being quite magnificent. 

Today, it’s Ajanta we’re heading for, initially in heavy rain - unusual for this time of year. The rain soon stops but it’s clearly been very heavy leaving localised flooding. The roads are dreadful - huge sections being dug up for resurfacing - do the journey is decidedly  bumpy. 

Events we arrive and make our way through the inevitable souvenir and snack stalls to board the shuttle bus - it’s surprisingly organised! We find a government registered  guide - apparently ‘the best guide’  as we’re told by those around. He’s clearly very knowledgeable and speaks good English, so he certainly enhanced our visit. 

We know these temple caves are famous for their paintings but other than that, we’re unsure what to expect. Rather than being natural caverns made into temples, these have been hewn by hand from solid rock to create huge columned caverns, mostly decorated with paintings telling of the various incarnations of Buddha. The first temples were constructed around 200BC, the last around 600AD. Predominantly a Hindu country, India was once Buddhist and as this religion fell from favour, funding for the temples dried up and they fell into disuse. They were rediscovered by in C19th  by an English man John Smith who thoughtfully left his signature on one of the cave paintings! 

Smith must have been completely amazed by what he saw when he made his way through the vegetation then covering the caves. Today, they’re open to visitors - and it amazed me that they’re not more famous beyond India. 

Entering the first cave we’re astonished at its magnificence. Even without seeing the paintings, just the structure and dimension astonish. Our guide shines his torch at the walls to show us the first of the paintings and they’ve incredibly detailed and colourful   He points out the three dimensional nature of figures - it would be a further millennium before European painters mastered this. 

I’m using my new Sigma 10-17mm and I’m amazed just how much light it lets in, so even without a torch it can ‘see’ the  paintings almost perfectly.

We visit several cave temples, shuffling shoes on and off as we enter these sacred spaces. Each entrance brings new wonders and we continue to be amazed about the incredible skills that enabled these structures to be built and to endure. 

For the first time this trip we encounter troops of grey langur monkeys, sitting on walls, waiting for titbits, or approaching the unsuspecting to steal food - or anything else that takes their fancy! I can’t resist taking shots of them, fascinated by their black faces and dexterous hands. 

We make our way back along a path across the river, trees and birdsong now replacing the excited chatter of the mostly Indian visitors near the caves. 

Taking the shuttle bus back to the car park, we run the gauntlet of stall holders - particularly two we’d spoken two that morning. Somehow, we’d each ‘promised’ to visit their shops and they are lying in wait for us. My salesman concentrates on jewellery made from semiprecious stones, G’s on minerals found in the locality. We’re plied with chai, have half the contents of the shops brought out - despite our insistence that we would only spend 1000 rupees - £10. Of course, we’re quoted ridiculous prices and despite hard bargaining, end up paying more than twice we’d planned to - and many times the items’ actual worth! Still, we tell ourselves we’re supporting the local economy. 

Sensing blood, another chap latches  onto me, following us to the car. A lapis necklace had previously been offered me at 170,000 rupees, but by the time we reached the car it’s down to 1500! He’s been followed by a retinue including a guy with a card machine, but presumably out of signal, it refuses to accept our payment. We’ve tried, but the poor chap is desperate and wants us to wait while someone fetches another machine. At one point I think he’s going to stand in front of the car, but we manage to escape with two small parcels neatly tied up with newspaper and string. 

There’s a long, bumpy and unevenlful drive back to our Aurangabad hotel and a ‘quiet’ evening to recover. The hotel is hosting a large Indian wedding and I’ve loved watching the parade of beautiful saris  over the last two days. But tonight’s the big party in the hotel gardens accompanied by a very loud live band. The small group of traditional musicians outside the restaurant try to complete, but it’s a hopeless task!