India- Ellora

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After a 15 hour 3rd class overnight train ride, we arrived in Aurangabad in the early afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel. The train consisted of 3-tier bunks on opposite sides of a small aisle, and 2-tier bunks across the main aisle of the train car. Each of these small 8-person sections were open to the rest of the train car, with about 10 per car. People were generally quiet through the night, and didn't start talking until about 7 or 8 a.m. In one of the many moments of public spirituatlity we witnessed in India, the man sitting next to us performed his full morning meditation ritual on his bunk, mixing colorful mineral powders, and quietly completing his prayers. There was plenty of food available, as vendors boarded the train at each stop, making their rounds before the train departed again. Also, the chai-wallah came through every so often with his deep voice advertising for the beverage.

After arrival at our hotel we had a late lunch and cleaned up a bit in our room before heading out to Ellora, taking the opportunity to relax after spending two nights on the train.

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As we rode out to Ellora we passed the ruins of the 14th century fort at Daulatabad, seen above.

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Ellora! We began at the Jain caves at the far west end of the complex.

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The caves are carved into the face of the cliffs, and were created between 600 and 1000 C.E.

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Above I am standing on the second floor of one of the caves, with a central temple structure behind me in the courtyard.

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The multi-story structures of the caves were amazing, as were the intricate carvings that covered nearly every surface.

After exploring the Jain caves, above were photos of caves 32 and 33, we moved to the Dumar Lena, cave 29. The photos below are of this Hindu cave, which had an enormous interior space.

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In the above photo Joe is in the middle of cave 29, behind him is a small sanctuary, and the interior of the cave continued behind the sanctuary area so one could walk all the way around it without going inside. This was about as far into the cave as we dared to venture though, as there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of bats in the darker interiors of the cave. Their cries echoed off the walls, and we could see the interior ceilings were completely covered with the tiny creatures.

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Hindu carvings near the entrance to cave 29.

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We continued by heading to cave 16, the Kailasa Temple, the largest and most impressive structure at Ellora. Construction on the Siva temple began in the mid-7th century and took nearly 200 years, in which over 200,000 tons of rock were removed from the cliff.

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Joe near the entrance to the Kailasa Temple.


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It was difficult to get a good photo of the temple, but this shows the side of the central temple structure with the natural rock wall in the background (this was from the front looking to the rear wall). At the bottom of the rock wall a hallway ran around the three interior sides, it is visible in the pillars at the bottom left corner of the photo.














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Standing on the left side of the temple looking at the central temple structure to the multi-floor caverns on the oppositte side.
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In the hallway that ran around the exterior there were carvings covering every surface...















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Near the back of the temple. To get an idea of the scale, Joe is standing near the pillars in the bottom right corner of the photo.











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The intricately carved central structure.










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The inner sanctum of the temple where a Shiva linga sits atop the central altar.










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Paintings on the side of the temple, possibly from the 9th-11th centuries.













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We continued our exploration of Ellora at cave 15.











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Cave 15. There are four bats hanging from the ceiling, we didn't dare go in any further, as a bat flew at my head just after taking this photo.










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Making our way east along the cliff we came to the Buddhist caves. The chaitya hall (cave 10) was one of my favorites. The ribs carved into the roof imitate wooden architecture, and the stone mound at the far end of the hall imitates the shape of the stupa.













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More inside cave 10.













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More of the Buddhist caves at Ellora. Unfortunately we were not able to see caves 1-6 because the complex closed at 5 p.m., which meant that the workers locked up and left their posts at about quarter to five.













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Driving back to Aurangabad....










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Roadside fruit vendors.

India- Sanchi

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On Monday March 30th we caught the overnight train from Agra to Bhopal, taking a private airconditioned sleeper car with a shared bathroom that left at about 1 a.m. (only an hour late). We arrived in Bhopal on Tuesday morning at about 7 a.m. with the intention of hiring a car to take us to Sanchi, site of the Great Stupa. The Bhopal train station proved as chaotic as any, and no information desk was to be found, so we stepped outside with our bags and hopped into an auto-rickshaw. With no pre-arranged plan, and in a place where very few people spoke English (Bhopal is decidedly off the usual tourist path) we quickly referenced our guidebook and had the driver take us to a hotel that had a state tourist office in the lobby. Arriving at about 8 a.m. we thought we would surely have to wait for a few hours before the office opened, but in a stroke of luck, the office was open. We spoke with the man inside, arranged to hire a car for the day, waited for about 30 minutes, and we were off on an hour and a half car ride to Sanchi.

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Sanchi is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary still extant, and includes the Great Stupa, dating from the 1st/2nd century B.C.E. The monument dates from the time prior to anthropomorphic images of the Buddha, so he is represented on the gates symbolically, as a tree, footprints, or in the Jataka Tales, stories of his past lives.

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Carvings from the gates.

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Theoretically, a stupa is a reliquary mound, but I don't believe any relics are housed inside of the Great Stupa.

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Worshippers circumambulate the stupa, and can do so both on the ground (above) and up on the platform (below).

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More of the amazing 2,000 year old carvings.

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Lizzard friend.

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As Sanchi was continually used for worship until the 12th century C.E. there were many monasteries surrounding the stupa. Below is the foundation of one of the monestaries. Also, you can see how the stupa is atop a hill with a lovely view of the surrounding countryside.

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One of my Japanese friends bestowed the nickname "Daibutsu-nerd" on me, because of my interest in Buddhist sculpture and monuments. I think that this may prove her right.

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A temple structure located at Sanchi, dating from much later than the Great Stupa.
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Spare parts....
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By the ruins of the temple.

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Also by the ruins of the temple...
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Goofing around. Perhaps the heat had overcome me?

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Stupa #2, much smaller than the Great Stupa, but still very cool.

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The gate of Stupa #2.

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Flowers and Stupa. There were very few people visiting Sanchi, there were 2 other groups of Indian tourists that were there at the same time as us, but we really had the place to ourselves. It was nice to be out in the middle of nowhere, away from the crowds and pollution of the cities for a while.

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At the bottom of the hill is the Sanchi Archaeological Museum. This institution is small, but houses an amazing collection of stone sculptures, most notably the Ashokan Lion Capital (for a similar image click here).

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The sign out front. No swords allowed.
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We paused for a tasty lunch in the town of Sanchi, Joe was feeling much better!

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Our second stop of the day was the Udaygiri Cave complex.

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These Hindu caves were carved out of the rock outcropping in the 4th and 5th century.

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Ganesha!

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We were the only visitors to the caves, and were guided around by an older gentleman who guarded the gate.

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More Hindu relief sculptures.

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Looking out across the countryside.

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Looking down at the cave complex, the flat topped rocks seem conducive to creating cave temples.

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At the top of the hill.

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Udaygiri....

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Back in Bhopal we saw this procession in the streets. The man being carried was of an advanced age, but I'm not sure what they were celebrating. The blue tint is from the taxi windows.
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We had to wait for many hours before our 11 p.m. overnight train, so we spent the afternoon at Cafe Coffee Day, doing some reading.

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Evening in Bhopal.

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A temple in Bhopal, I'm not sure if it's Hindu or Jain.

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A snack of Masala Potato Chips... mmm..... We had a tasty dinner of dosas before heading back to the train station to wait for our train to Aurangabad, which was delayed by over two hours.

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