Ellora Caves-A must visit architectural miracle on earth -Part 4

Never I have been so much influenced by the historical monuments of our country as I am now. After exploring the southern side of  Ellora caves, we were intrigued to see what came next.Moving towards the northern side,we came upon cave no 21 also known as The Rameshwara Temple,excavated in the 7th century A.D.This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and has a courtyard and a hall consisting sculptured pillars on both sides.

Like any other shiva temple,we saw a beautiful shiva-lingam inside the hall and many other intricately carved  figurines of Lord Shiva . The courtyard had a huge Nandi sculpture placed right in the middle and beautifully carved river goddess adorned the exterior panels of the cave.

river goddess

At this point we took the bus provided by the government authorities to reach the Jain temples which was around one km from there.

Jain Temples( Cave 30-34)
The Jain caves were excavated in the ninth and early tenth centuries.These caves belonged to the Digambara sect  and were the last ones to be excavated in Ellora. We started off with the finest of the Jain caves,cave no 32 also known as the Indra Sabha. It was a double storied cave having the most intricately  carved figurines of  god Mahavir and goddess Ambika .Just adjacent to this cave was cave no 31 which was not completed.

	Cave 32
	cave 31

Another notable cave among the Jain caves was cave no 30 also known as chhota Kailash having similarities with the Kailash temple.It had 22 tirthankaras with Mahavir at the centre .Cave no 33 also known as the Jagannath Sabha dates back to the 9th century.It had massive pillars and was similar in plan to cave no 32.

Thus this brought an end to our remarkable journey and I wonder why Ellora caves is not among the seven wonders of the world.....

                                                                                                                                                        

    

Ellora caves-A must visit architectural miracle on earth-Part 3

Hindu caves are the most intricately carved caves of Ellora and one after another we were witnessing the most hypnotic structures of the world.In my last post I talked about cave no 16 ,the Kailash Temple.We now moved ahead to cave no 15 ,the Dashavatara Temple.

As the name suggests, The Dashavtara temple depicts the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.A small flight of stairs takes you up to the main cave .At the middle of the courtyard, there is a small raised square hall called Natya mandapa(hall of dance) containing the inscription of Dantidurga,the famous Rashtrakuta ruler (758-756.A.D.).
The main structure is double storied.The ground floor is plain and devoid of any sculptures and the upper floor is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The next cave we came upon was cave no 14 ,Ravan ki khai .This cave temple was probably dedicated to the Shakti cult as it was evident from the various sculptures of female divinities we spotted there.The entrance door was flanked by the sculptures of gigantic guards and river goddesses.The prevalence of river goddesses on the entrance of the temples was a common feature for almost all the caves at Ellora. It is believed to be symbolic of purifying ourselves with holy waters before reaching the main deity.
Since we were moving towards the southern side ,the next cave in line was Cave no 13.This cave was an incomplete cave .

Cave 13 (An incomplete Hindu Cave)

Cave no 13 marked  an end of Hindu caves on the southern side .

Buddhists Caves (1-12)

After having seen the most dramatic caves of Ellora ,we now stopped at the Budddhists caves.The Buddhists Caves contained the most simplest ornamentation and were twelve in number.We started off with the last of the Buddhists caves i.e.Cave no 12. This was an 8th century cave and known as "Teen Taal" because of its three floors.This Cave contained Lord Buddha in preaching position on a lotus throne.An interesting feature of this cave was that it had  seven mortal Buddhas pointing to the belief that the Buddha had already incarnated seven times on earth.Another three storied cave we came upon was Cave no 11 also built in the  8th century.

cave no 12

cave no 11

Cave no 10-The Vishwakarma cave

As we stepped inside this beautiful cave ,we couldn't keep our eyes away from the huge Buddha shrine we came across.It was placed right in the centre of a stupa hall also known as Chaitya-Griha. This hall had a vaulted roof in which ribs were carved out of the rock.The upper portion of the cave was beautifully carved with flying celestials and bodhisattvas. The carvings were so finely done that it gave a woodden look. Thats why this cave is also known as the "Carpenter's Cave".This cave was built around 650 C.E. and was a major Buddhist prayer hall.

Cave 6,7, 8 & 9

We then reached Cave no 9 which had elaborate upper facade levels containing a series of six seated Buddhas.Inside the cave we saw one seated Buddha, holding rosary in his broken right hand.This intricately carved facade was right above cave no 8 and one could easily get confused between these two caves.Cave no 8 had a Buddha seated in Bhadrasana between two Bodhisattvas. Cave no 7 was a large cave ,supported  by only four simple square pillars having minimal designs.

Cave no 6 welcomed us with many elaborately carved dance sculptures.At the entrance we came upon an unusual sculpture of Goddess Tara holding a lotus.There were figures of dwarfs above her, an ascetic to her left and a female to her right.The main shrine there was a  Buddha seated on his elaborate lion throne accompanied by bodhisattvas on either sides.

Goddess tara at Cave no 6

Caves no 1-5

Cave no 5 was different from all other caves we saw at Ellora. Excavated at a higher level ,it was largest among the single storied caves.It had a huge hall comprising of long parallel carved benches running down its center.The two storied Cave no 4 is now virtually in ruins.There is a Buddha sitting under a peepal tree and another in a shrine.

Cave no 5

Cave no 4

Cave no 3 had a square central chamber with Buddha seated on the lotus and twelve meditation cells.Cave no 2 was a worship hall decorated internally and externally with sculptures of Lord Buddha in different postures.Finally we came to Cave no 1 which was a vihara or resident for monks to stay.

The journey continues.....

Ellora caves- A must visit architectural miracle on earth -Part 2

From my various travel experiences, I realized that for a successful travel one must have the right people along if not travelling alone.I am certainly blessed with few of these like minded souls.Well, in the month of March this year, we were yet again on a road trip from Pune to Ellora caves. We started from Pune in the afternoon ready to explore one of the most exquisite and spellbinding place we could ever visit. We took the route via Ahmednagar highway-Aurangabad- Ellora caves. It takes about five and a half hours to reach Ellora from Pune but it took us little more !!! Thanks to the bad roads we came across at few places. Since we couldn’t find a decent accommodation at  Ellora , we stayed at a hotel in Aurangabad. Next day early morning we headed to Ellora and reached there in just 20 minutes. 

While having breakfast at a food joint just half a km from the caves , we came to know that a very famous Shiva temple was just walk able distance from there. So we all decided to visit the temple as well. And to our utmost surprise , this temple turned out be one of the twelve jyotirlingas known as The Grishneshwar temple.Being an ardent Shiva follower I was extremely delighted .

Exploring the Ellora caves

As I already mentioned in my previous post  ,there are 34 caves open to public which are numbered consecutively, starting with Buddhist caves (cave 1 to 12), Hindu caves(13-29 ) and Jain Caves(30-34). We started off with the most remarkable and unfathomable among the Hindu caves, Cave No 16 The kailash temple. It’s dedicated to Lord Shiva but also pays homage to other gods.

The Kailash Temple

It is the largest monolithic structure of the world carved out of a single rock. An inscription on this temple reveals that it was built by Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty and involved the removal of 1,50000 to 2,00000 tons of solid rock.It was conceived and architected by pallavas of the south.One peculiar feature of this temple is that unlike other temples at this site , it was built from top to bottom. It is the most spectacular display of human craftsmanship on natural formations having the most enormous and beautiful sculptures. It is believed that this temple is made in a pyramid shape resembling the mythical abode of lord Shiva, the Mount Kailasha and hence the name Kailash Temple. We kept on wondering how the craftsmen in ancient times, came up with this mammoth using the very few basic tools of construction.

As we entered through the gateway of the temple , we came upon sculptures of two  sages, the Valmiki and the Vyasa authors of the most famous religious scriptures the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Little ahead we were greeted with symbols of wealth and prosperity i.e.  God Kuber (the god of wealth) on both sides of the doorway and Goddess Laxmi in the cubicle opposite. Turning to the left of the temple, we saw the God Kama. Also there were depictions from Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Goddess laxmi

God kama with his bow and arrows

We  were mesmerised to see the huge carved pillars standing tall  and also elephants lined up on either sides   in the courtyard . The courtyard is surrounded by  columned galleries three storied  high. Inside these galleries one can find various depictions of Lord Shiva and Vishnu. Since Lord shiva is believed to lead us to the path of salvation and for that one has to completely abstain from worldly pleasures. Therefore all the sculptures like those of God Kuber and God Kama were carved outside the temple.

Elephants adorned on either sides of the courtyard

carved pillars having a height of 16mts.

In the inner porch we saw two sculptures of Lord Shiva, one showing him as lord of knowledge and other as bhairava, killing the elephant demon.Climbing few steps ahead we reached the main part of the temple , the garb griha which has a huge lingam .At the back of the temple there were five shrines which were believed to be  a copy of the main temple.Another notable sculpture there  was that of Ravana attempting to lift mount kailash. 

Lord Shiva depicted as Lord of Knowledge

Garb-Grah with Lingam

As we made our way out of this magnificient  temple, we stood there for a moment ,completely astounded by its beauty,we felt a sudden gush of pride for being part of this great Indian civilization.The Kailash Temple was undoubtedly the most impressive among all the caves of Ellora.

The journey continues....

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Ellora Caves – A must visit architectural miracle on Earth -Part 1

Few advertising campaigns do speak the truth. Incredible India!! An ad campaign carried out by Government of India to promote tourism is one of them. It truly showcases the beauty and essence of India, and I couldn’t agree more to this, when I visited Ellora caves. This magnificent architectural marvel left me awestruck and I felt an immense sense of pride and attachment for my country.

When I was growing up, whenever someone mentioned Ellora Caves, the first image which came to my mind was that of some erotic sculptures. Blame it to Bollywood movies or my lack of knowledge, for a long period of time I had this image until when I actually visited this place with my best of buddies. As a matter of fact, it is one of the most sacred places of India and the only place where all the three religions viz Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism co exists.This co-existence clearly demonstrates how much religiously tolerant Indians were way back then.

Ellora caves are located 30 kms from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra.Its about 300 kms from Mumbai and about 255 kms from Pune .There are over 100 caves at Ellora, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri hills,34 of which are open to public. These 34 caves comprises of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples and monasteries.These caves were excavated in the 6th  to 10th century making it one of the oldest wonders of our modern world.

The best time to visit Ellora caves is  from November to March when it is cooler and dry.The caves are open from 8 am to 5.30pm.There is an entry fee of Rupees 40 for Indians and rupees 600 for foreign tourists.

There are no eating joints inside the caves except the local vendors selling some fruits .It takes about nearly four to five hours to see the entire site which is stretched over for about 2 kms. Many buses are also provided by the government which starts from Cave no 16 and goes until the last cave.

This journey continues....

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Experience the strawberry capital of India- A walk with Shaili Sharma

Unplanned trips are the most adventurous and become even more exciting with a bunch of crazy friends.

This time me and my crazy friends headed to Mahabaleshwar, a small town located in the Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It's a lovers' paradise, a nature lovers' haven and a perfect place for someone looking for ultimate bliss. Well known hill station situated at an elevation of 1353 metres above sea level surrounded by valleys on all sides.

A perfect weekend getaway for people staying in Pune and Mumbai as it's only 125 kms away from Pune and 266 kms from Mumbai.

Most of us associate Mahabaleshwar with beautiful valleys, plummeting waterfalls and not to forget the delicious strawberries. And these luscious strawberries of Mahabaleshwar, grown in the hilly slopes of the region accounts for about 85 percent of total strawberry produced in India.

Strawberries were brought to this region from Australia by the British

I came across one interesting fact that Strawberry cultivation was introduced by prisoners from China and Malay imprisoned by the British in Mahabaleshwar from 1834 to 1864.Since it's a seasonal fruit, hence the season lasts between October- November and April-May.

One can also enjoy the famous annual strawberry festival hosted by Mapro garden, well known for their strawberry produce. The main attraction of this festival is the fresh farm picked strawberries available for visitors to eat and also various other traditional folk performances.

The city of strawberries has a great history of which very few people are aware of. As the legend says, the city came into being when the two demons atibal and mahabal in ancient period, around the period of creation of the world tried to terrorise the people to the maximum extent. The recorded history of mahabaleshwar dates back to 1215CE, when Yadav king singham of Devagiri visited this place and built a temple at the source of krishna river.After the fall of yadav dynasty ,the region was ruled by many other kingdoms. Finally ,In the 19th century this place received its real recognition ,when General P Lodwick ,the first European visited mahabaleshwar.It was he who made mahabaleshwar popular among the british.Another prominent visitor Col Briggs found this region as a perfect escape from the scorching heat of the nearby plains .He persuaded the then raja of satara to build roads in this region for better communication .He also requested the governor of Bombay, sir john Malcolm to visit the hill station. In 1929, Mahabaleshwar was officially declared as Bombay presidency's summer capital.

Well we started from Pune around 2pm in the afternoon and took the route via Wai -Panchgani-Mahabalehwar. The roads were fairly good, and the beautiful weather made our journey very pleasant. An unending drizzle followed us till Mahabaleswar.

Highways decorated in green velvet

Since we were short of time, we couldn't stop at Wai, a small town located on the Krishna river famous for its seven ghats and many temples. Another prominent tourist attraction in Wai is Dhom Dam Backwater.

This journey brought about some beautiful unexpected surprises that took our breath away now and then. One such mesmerizing thing happened while we crossed Wai and were moving towards Panchgini.

We came across a patch of land which had a beautiful view of the other side of the valley. We were shivering and quivering with excitement and happiness. A cool wind with drizzle took us into some other Utopian world.

Well this was just the start....!

This place not only gave the most picturesque view but also provided us with some fun activities like horse riding and camel riding. It was thrilling to ride a horse in such a pleasant weather.

Once it was also a place to enjoy paragliding where the entire paragliding gears were made available to the public. Now, one can do paragliding here but have to arrange for their own gears.

From this point we reached Panchgani in roughly 20 minutes. Another beautiful hill station near Mahabaleshwar famous for its various sunset / sunrise points and scenic valley view. It’s surrounded by five hills and hence the name Panchgani. Since we had to reach Mahabaleshwar the same day, we decided to visit Table land, a popular tourist place in Panchgani and skipped all other viewpoints. Table Land is the highest point of the entire region of Panchgani and offers some  breathtaking views of the valley.
It was nearly 8pm when we reached Mahabaleshwar .It takes about 40 mins to reach Mahabaleshwar from Panchgani. Since we went there in mid-August, due to heavy rainfall there was lot of fog and mist. We couldn't see anything clearly on the roads and it was a bit difficult to drive.

We had booked a hotel through OYO just an hour before reaching. But to our utmost disgust, the maintenance and facilities of the room didn't match the actual pictures shown on the app. Hence, I believe it's always better to book the hotel after visiting it. Since there was no dearth of hotels around, we settled in a hotel near the market with comfortable tariff rates.

We started our sightseeing next day in the morning. The very first place we visited was the Mahabaleshwar temple, located 6 kms from the main market. This temple was built around eight hundred years ago and the shiv-linga is believed to be much older, around thousands of years old. Inside the temple there is a 6 feet long Shiva Lingam, in the shape of Rudraksha, of which only the tip is visible.The temple also has old articles belonging to lord Shiva like Damru, Trishul, a bed and carvings of his sacred bull and Kalbhairav .It is believed that he still visits the temple and uses them. Like any other Shiva temple, this place offers a lot of peace and a feeling of nothingness.

Mahabaleshwar Temple

Atibaleshwar Temple 

As we moved forward inside the Mahabaleshwar temple premises, we found two more beautiful temples, the Atibaleshwar temple and Panch ganga temple .

The Panchganga temple is constructed at the convergence of five rivers Krishna,Venna ,Savitri ,koyna and Gayatri .Inside the temple one can see a cow made of stone .Most astonishingly we found that the water from all the five rivers was flowing through its mouth. And unbelievably it was the tastiest and purest of water we could ever had.

Our next stop was Kates point from where two other points, Echo point and Needle's hole were only walking distance. The Kates point offered a beautiful view of the Balkawadi dam.

We were completely awestruck when we saw the needle's hole point. It is another picturesque point where an overhanging cliff resembles the top of an elephant and hence named The Elephant's head viewpoint too.


The beautiful Sahyadri Mountain range with magnificent waterfalls can also be viewed from this point.Just another 4 kms away from Kates point, waited an enthralling beauty, The Lingmala waterfalls.

 I would rather call this place as an epitome of natural beauty. As we entered this place we got down roughly around 100 stairs and reached this small running stream of water .

At this point there were two beautiful waterfalls. Towards the left there was a small waterfall called Doh around 100 mts away ideal for playing and enjoying the cool dip in water.  Towards the right around 500 mts away, we came across this another stupendous and roaring waterfall .It's height was approximately 500 feet.Also this point gave a splendid view of the Venna Valley.

The Lingmala waterfalls was our last destination as all other viewpoints were closed down due to heavy rainfall. Though, Mahabaleshwar is pleasant through most of the year ie not so hot in summers and cold enough in winters but its beauty increases exponentially in monsoon season.

While going back to Pune, we came across numerous small waterfalls .We couldn't ask for anything more .

This delightful journey was coming to an end with the most exhilarating experience I ever had. The people of Mahabaleshwar are very friendly and warm and possess beautiful hearts ,as beautiful as their homeland.

I yearned to come back to this magnificent place again.