Cave Hopping

Aurangabad is about a little over one hours flight north east of Mumbai. Alas, this area has not escaped global warming, as the monsoon rains have come but not to the same extent, for the past three years. The river beds are dry, the trees are brown and the earth is dusty. In another three months when summer arrives, temperatures will hit a high of 45 Celsius.

Having never visited previously, I really felt in a different world, and for all I know we could have been in Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq. Wakened at six am by the calling for prayers, the Muslims represent about 30 % of the population with hijab and burka covered women very prevalent. The language being spoken is nothing like I have heard before except from CNN reports. We are not in Kansas anymore Toto :)

However, the reason for our visit is the UNESCO Heritage site Alanja Caves, a two hour drive to the north. These 29 caves were hand carved into the mountain side and were created and discovered over 2000 years ago by Buddhist monks in search of a place to meditate. They are an engineering marvel, considering when and how they were carved out of the mountains. This destination makes for a pilgrimage by thousands of Indian and world travelers alike. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and animated, having made the study of these caves, his lifelong work.

The Ellora Caves to the south were an equally, elaborate creation, which catered to the religious Hindu, Buddhist and Jain. As the saying goes in Asia "same ,same but different", but these caves and one in particular accented on the different. The largest monolith in the world can be found here. Your forgiven. I didn't know either what a monolith is, but it is a structure carved from a single stone. The complete temple and all the surroundings structures are all carved from one geological rock. This temple, created by the Hindus is simply amazing and has to be seen to be believed. Of the 36 temples here, all the rest pale in comparison. I'm so glad we were able to experience this marvel.

Back to Mumbai tonight to join up with our group tomorrow. Namaste.