Aurangabad More than 2000 years ago, when Buddhism was the prominent religion in India, pilgrims traveling across the sub continent and monks engaged in their ascetic lifestyle, began digging into the cliffs towering over the Waghora River near present day Aurangabad, India. Although today we call their excavations ‘caves’, that word is an incredible misnomer. These prayer halls (chaitya grihas) and monasteries (viharas) are incredible architectural accomplishments, all created by digging into the hard rock of the cliff walls. The details of the carvings, the statues, the altars are all incredible. Then you look more closely and realize that all of these incredible rock cuttings also used to be covered in brilliantly painted murals! These are the Ajanta Caves. The first constructions began about 200 BC during the austere Hinayana Buddhist period. At t
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