Ajanta caves

---

Overnight on the train we entered a new state, the last on this trip.

We are staying in a modern hotel near the station. We made an early start and took the road to Ajanta. This area of India is fairly dry, but there is enough rain for crops such as wheat and sorghum. When we arrived the shop sellers descended on us in force, but we managed to escape onto the shuttle bus to the caves. The caves were discovered in the late C19 by an Englishman called John Smith. These are buddhist caves. It was a little strange to make the shift after hearing the Hindu stories. I recognised some features from Dunhuang particularly the 1,000 Buddhas repeated images. There were also significant differences. The drawings of the kings and and one of the paintings of the Buddha looked distinctively Indian. There were two styles of temple, the first is the monastery style with simple rooms for monks off a square shaped cave. The second style has a stupa or chattiyas, these have curved arch roofs.

There is carving in the temples, particularly cave 26, but the caves are known for the painting. The earliest painting dates back to C2 BC. This was quite small and difficult to see, but the later painting from C5 to C7 AD was impressive. The colours are not as bright as in the Dunhuang caves in China, but the interest was in the detail of the portraits and the palace scenes. The cobra king and a white horse cropped up frequently. The portraits show detail of jewellry and costume local to the area, but also of traders from further afield. The last cave has a good sleeping Vishnu.

There was enough time on the return to Aurangabad to visit two small sites there. The first was a water tank used for the underground water system. It had a beautiful old Banyan tree next to it. The second was the mini Taj Mahal. You might think at first glance that the photos shows the Taj Mahal. We are not there, but at its later cousin. This one was built for a Shah's mother.

---