Aurangabad, India
December 7th, 2007
We were a little late to leave work in Pune after a very hectic week. The highway from Pune to Aurangabad was being converted to a four-lane highway. Some patches were good but the rest was very bad. The traffic was very heavy. The countryside was much greener than Pune even though this was the dry season. There were fields of sugarcane and cotton on either side of the highway.
Pilgrims were returning back on all kinds of transportation. It turned dark soon and the driving became scary. We saw multiple accidents all along the way. We saw an accident involving a motorcycle that seemed fatal. It took us 5 hours to cover a distance of just 250 kms! The Taj Residency hotel in Aurangabad is a paradise, an oasis in the midst of the chaos of the city! We hit the bed after a cup of tea.
December 8th, 2007
Our driver, Yousouf, was up and ready by seven in the morning but it took us time to finish the sumptuous breakfast spread. We left for Ajanta Caves at around 8.30 p.m. which is around 120 kms outside Aurangabad. All vehicles were forced to park outside the caves and a bus shuttle carried the visitors in. There are many touristy shops outside at the car park. It was getting hot.
The Ajanta caves are not caves in the true sense but are cut from solid rock. They were built starting around 400 B.C. to 200 A.D. and were believed to be part of a Buddhist monastery. There are over 100+ caves.
We started with the first one. There were beautiful paintings on the wall of the caves. They were very old and some of them were nicely restored. There was a huge idol of Lord Buddha beautifully carved and was very serene. As we went to the second cave, we realized that we surely needed a good guide to explain the intricate painting and carving. So we went back to the first cave where we found an elderly looking gentleman by the name of Abdul who was very fluent in English and very knowledgeable about the history. Abdul explained the significance of the different rock paintings and the techniques that were used. All colors except blue were sourced locally. Blue was imported from Persia. These paintings were very intricate and some of them had the effect of the image looking at you from any side you looked. The sculptures were huge and simply magnificent. We were really awed that something of this size and so intricate was built over 2000 years ago.
Each rock temple was carved in a different era and each took decades and even over a century to build. Some rock temples were living quarters for the monks. The paintings depicted the life of Buddha as well as his previous lives. Caves between 7 and 9 were the oldest built around 400 B.C. The Archaeological Survey of India is trying to restore the caves. It was sad to see the vandalism of some of the caves over the centuries. The caves itself were discovered by a British in 1829 who had come hunting in the jungle; the jungle had grown over the caves. No one really knows when and why they were abandoned. We asked Abdul to suggest the name of a good guide for the next stop, Ellora.
We bid adieu and crossed a bridge to take a shorter route back to the main entrance; we could get a complete view of most of the visible caves. We took the shuttle bus back to the main entrance; it was very hot and we were accompanied by smiling school kids. At the main entrance there were a swarm of souvenir sellers trying to peddle their wares with little realization that the more one is pushy the more a person is less likely to buy.
While Ajanta is famous for its rock paintings, Ellora is famous for its rock carvings. The drive from Ajanta to Ellora took us a little over 3 hours through country roads. The distance is just a little over 100 kms.
At Ellora, we met with our new tourist guide at the entrance as we had talked to hime while we were on our way. His name was Majid and he was older than our previous guide Abdul. He too seemed knowledgeable having worked as a guide for many decades. We had a couple of hours and he gave a nice tour of the caves. There are well over 200 caves with many more that are yet to be excavated. Unlike Ajanta, the rock cut caves of Ellora were continuously inhabited till the Archeological survey of India took over. There are caves outside the park that are still inhabited by monks. Ellora is represented by the three religions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. It's simply very hard to describe the magnificence of these temples in writing and equally hard to imagine how the people at that time over the centuries could have achieved such a feat. As Majid explained, apart from being good rock carvers, these monks were very good in their knowledge of geology. They picked the perfect igneous rock mountains that would be able to sustain the rock carvings.
We started our tour with the Buddhist temples and then made our way to the caves built by the Jain monks. The entrance to these caves are grand with very intricate and massive carvings in the rock. Inside the temples have long passageways from one chamber to the other. The image of Lord Mahavir, the founder of the Jain religion looks similar to the form of Lord Buddha yet a very different.
The caves have been carved over hundreds of years initially with a stone chisel and then with an iron chisel in the middle ages. It is indeed beyond comprehension on how one would have achieved this with a chisel especially the chambers being so big. The carving obviously being done from outside to inside.
The biggest cave is a massive Hindu temple carved out of a single mountain rock from top to bottom. This in itself is an engineering marvel and truly a wonder of the world. There are massive intricately carved columns that align themselves in a row. The main entrance Gopuram is well over 300 feet. The temple is still in use by Hindu Pilgrims. The main altar has a beautiful Shiva Lingam. We spent some time soaking ourselves in this beautiful ancient architecture. Majid was honest but a good salesman too; he convinced us to buy a book on Ajanta/Ellora and a hand crafted shawl in local technique that had been passed down from generations.
It was around 5 p.m. in the evening and we proceeded to Khuldabad where the last powerful Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, lay buried. It was Aurangzeb's wish to be buried in this small town where other saints were buried. There are many gates in the town where one passes through, the boundaries still being walled. The small town itself is unremarkable but upon entering the mosque we were transported to a different world. It was built after the death of Aurangzeb.
It is very simple and does not have any of the opulence associated with an emperor. There is still a religious seminary, madrasa, that runs on the premises. As we entered the burial chamber we were surprised to hear chants of the holy Koran from pilgrims who were moving their bodies back and forth while sitting down on the floor. The burial chamber is very small and there was a green blanket of flowers over the coffin. The pilgrims were also in this chamber praying. It so turned out that today was the 300th death anniversary of Aurangzeb and pilgrims had come from all over to read the Koran in dedication of Aurangzeb.
We asked Majid about all the bad stuff that is associated with Aurangzeb. Majid mentioned that it was incorrect and that he was a very pious man. He was forced to defend himself when his father (Emperor Shah Jahan) and elder brother (Prince Dara Shikoh) hatched a conspiracy against him. He incarcerated his father and he killed his brother. It is very fascinating to hear a totally different perspective of history from the locals who are probably the descendants of Aurangzeb’s army. However many historians mention that it was Aurangzeb who imprisioned his father and killed his brother to capture the throne. The people in this town revere Aurangzeb as a great saint.
Our next stop was Daulatabad fort which could be seen from a distance as we descended down into the valley. The surroundings of the fort are un-impressive however once you are in you are transported into the medieval era. The fort is massive and is perched on the top of a mountain.
Majid explained the finer details of the fort and how the inhabitants of the fort went at great lengths to defeat the invading army before they got any closer to the top of the fort. They had false doors and passages that would take them back where they came from. There were storage bins for storing hot oil to be poured on the invading army. There were passageways with 180 degree turns to break the speed and trap running elephants. The fort also has a magnificent tower mid-way.
The original fort was built by a Hindu King, Bhillama V, around 1187 A.D. and subsequently over the centuries taken over by the invading dynasties from the Slave dynasty to the Mughal dynasty and then to the Nizam of Hyderabad and finally the British. The fort has remained impregnable all over the centuries and has fallen only because of want of food. The fort is also surrounded by a waterway with crocodiles.
Once you cross this you start climbing steep steps through a narrow passageway that is fully covered with bats. We halt our tour upwards at this point as it had gotten dark. It would have taken us another couple of hours to get to the top. We climbed down reminiscing the magnificence of this historic fort on how the various kings and emperors would have fought wars within it against the invading army.
We bid Majid adieu and thanked him profoundly for a wonderful guided trip. We ended the evening with a sumptuous buffet at the Taj Residency Hotel restaurant.
December 9th, 2007
Next morning after packing up and finishing up a nice breakfast we checked out of the Taj Residency Hotel and headed to the Bibi Ka Maqbara (Tomb of the Lady) located within Aurangabad. Bibi Ka Maqbara was built by the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, in 1660 A.D. in memory of his first wife, Dilras Banu Begum (who was originally from the Safavid Dynasty in Persia). The monument bears a little resemblance to the more famous and magnificent Taj Mahal in Agra. However this monument is much smaller and less grander compared to the the Taj Mahal.
From the entrance it was a long walk to get to the monument. The monument is situated within a large area surrounded by high walls. The monument has an intricately carved circular dome with four minarets on each side of the main building. There is a lotus pond in the front of the monument along with a bench where we sat down to marvel at the architecture and take photographs. We were surprised to find some beautiful white ducks in and around the pond. There were beautiful engravings on the walls of the monument along with Persian calligraphy. The Archeological Survey of India was doing preservation work and one of the minarets was covered in scaffolding.
The grave of the Queen, draped in green blanket, was in the basement of the circular dome.
Besides us there were some school children as well as other local families visiting the monument. Surprisingly it wasn't as crowded. We leisurely walked around the quiet grounds of the monument and took some beautiful photographs. It was really hard for us not to compare this monument with the Taj Mahal. We weren't sure if Aurangzeb didn't have the desire or the money to build a mausoleum for his wife as grand as the one his father built for his mother at Agra. In the end we realized it was an unfair comparison and each monument had its beauty and place in history.
We then decided to end our journey in this historical city of Aurangabad and departed back to Pune in the afternoon. It was a great journey to see these magnificent monuments.
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