Dussehra part 1 - Ajanta caves

Dussehra/Dasara/Navaratri is a celebration over 10 days, the origin is the Hindu god Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana and the triumph of good over evil. The epic Ramayana tells the story of the Lord Rama who wins the lovely Sita for his wife, only to have her carried off by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.
You can read more here and here and if you like, see some pictures that are not mine :-)

We took a flight from Delhi to Aurangabad on Thursday and landed in the evening. A driver picked us up and took us to the hotel. After a VERY mediocre dinner and NO booze - dry day in Maharastra :-( - and a 3-hour long batman movie on TV (you know how you sort of flick through the channels, happen to find something and say to yourself that you won't watch for long ... well ...) we finally went to sleep.

Breakfast was not too bad, then off with our guide on a 2-hour car journey to Ajanta. First stop - an optician! I left both my hat (and Maia's) and my sun glasses on the plane ...

Happy and protected I left the shop (read hole in the wall) and found these guys outside. They spotted my camera and demanded that I took a picture ... OK :-)

Next second they were all proud smiles.

On the way we saw a lot of new, shiny tractors and motorbikes being sold and a lot of people washing their motorbikes, cars and tractors then decorating them with garlands made of marigold flowers. What is that all about? Our knowledgeable guide told us about Ayudha Puja, or Durga Puja as they call it in Karnataka. (Check out this page, they know how to throw a party in Karnataka!) The 10th day of Dussehra marks a new beginning in life. Business people who sign a deal on that day are especially happy. 

"Legend has it that Arjuna retrieved his weapons that he had hidden in a hole in this Banni tree before being banished to exile for 14 years. The Pandavas then defeated the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra battle, and returned victorious on Vijayadashmi. Hence, the festival of Ayudha Puja (worshipping of weapons) is celebrated on the 9th day. 

Current day interpretation has made the festival one where all vehicles and tools are cleaned, decorated, and prayed to for safe and productive usage. Limes are placed under each wheel of the vehicles as sacrifice, and we drive/ride over it till it is squashed. It is not uncommon for businesses to shut down their computers and machinery so that they can be cleaned and prayed to." source

Finally arrived!

"AJANTA is world's greatest historical monument recognised by UNESCO located just 55kms from Jalgaon city and 105kms from Aurangabad City of Maharashtra, India. There are 30 caves in Ajanta of which 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 are chaitya-grihas and the rest are monasteries. These caves were discovered in AD 1819 and were built up in the earlier 2nd century BC-AD.!" source

We parked the car and got on a shuttle - standing room only.

But there was still a ways up to reach the caves ... on foot this time...

... or not?

Not! We walked. Once we turned the last corner we were rewarded with an incredible sight.

Inside most of the caves we saw the most amazing paintings telling stories about life way back when both documentary and mythological. It is, however, not allowed to take pictures of the paintings with flash and I did not bring my tripod ... hence, my pictures are really not very good. Instead you can have a look here if you want to see good pictures of some of the paintings.

 What you need to understand - to be honest, I'm still struggling with that! - is that what they did was to actually carve out from the mountain with whatever tools they had, hammer and chisel, 100 BCE!!! That's when they started. It took a few hundred years to complete all the 30 caves. This means that what you see is what is left - it is all part of the rock!

This particular cave was never finished ... but I was allowed to use a flash ... so of course I had to take a picture ... and look what I found!

Our live wikipedia (for the life of me I can't remember his name!!) truly was a fountain of information telling us what it all meant and made the statues and paintings come alive with their stories.

Again, this is CARVED OUT, not BUILT UP! Don't know about you but I am in awe.

 These elephants flanked the entrance to the main temple.

To enter any of the temples we had to take off our shoes, like everywhere when you want to enter a temple.

 

Buddha is depicted in different positions, especially his hand gestures (mudras) all have different meanings. The Buddha to the right with both his hands over his chest means confidence in self.

A friendly reminder: CARVED OUT, not BUILT UP!
See Buddha's cape hanging down from his shoulders?

 

Inside some of the temples or prayer halls were rows of cells with stone beds along the sides where the monks slept. Maia has grown a lot lately, but still, the opening is not big!

Even if the quality is rather poor I had to show you this guy - you can see by the detailed expression in his face that he is working hard ... to hold the ceiling up! He is carved out at the top of a pillar with his back facing up.

Don't know if you can read this, but clicking the picture will enlarge it.

If you look closely at this standing Buddha you will notice his round face like a full moon, a very broad forehead and very large ears with ear lobes almost reaching to the shoulder - he is shown to be in full possession of both virtue and wisdom, the embodiment of perfection. You can also discern his robe, the artist cleverly shows us where it ends, which is all we need to understand that he was wearing one.

 

The right hand is in the mudra of "imparting fearlessness", indicating the compassion of the Buddha to save all sentient beings from their sufferings. The multitude of Buddhas indicate one of his divine abilities - to multiply himself. Everywhere you find the "angles" hovering around his head.

Cave number 26 houses a reclining Buddha - he has died and below you can see people in mourning.

The chappel is magnificent with a large Buddha in the middle and the decorated pillars all around the rounded room.

 Did I mention that all this is CARVED OUT, not BUILT UP!

That was the last of the caves we visited in Ajanta.

On the way back we walked across the river and through the forest on the other side.

On the other side we met this guy. I was literally 20 cm from him when I took this picture ;-)

 Custard apple

A very impressive banyan tree

Oh yeah, don't forget ...

It happens all the time, not only here, that people stand next to Maia and/or me and take a picture, often they end up on facebook before long. Some actually do ask first, in which case we sometimes agree. Our guide did what he could to protect us. If I had paid more attention I think I would have learnt a whole lot of ... useful words in Hindi ...

The way back to Aurangabad needs a post of its own ;-) C u soon