Ellora Caves and Aurangabad
19 January 2008
At 9:30am we were picked up at the Nandavan Hotel for this Classic Tours excursion.  Our
small group of 9 consisted entirely of Indians except for a young German woman employed
in Bangalore who had come to Aurangabad to visit the archaeological sites
The first brief stop was at a temple dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, interesting if we had
not seen many similar temples previously.
Our next stop was for an hour or so at the very huge Daulatabad fortress which in the 14th
century served as the capital for a large part of India.  The main part of the fort is at the
peak of a high steep hill surrounded by extensive fortified walls.  A very impressive sight
well worth visiting.
The main attraction this day were the Ellora Caves.  Like the Ajanta caves we had visited
the previous day, the Ellora Caves were excavated along a long cliff created by erosion
along the horseshoe bend of a river.  However, while the Ajanta caves contain only Buddhist
temples the Ellora caves  contain diverse Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu temples.   The Ajanta
and Ellora caves are both very interestingly beautiful but it seems to us that the Ellora
cave decorations, created 600AD to 1000AD were more extensive and better preserved.  
We were glad to be there for a couple of hours or more.
We also stopped at Bidi-ka Maqbara, a mausoleum built by a Mogul emperor at about the
same time as the Taj Mahal    A striking resemblance.
Virginia and I had intended to include the cities of Bangalore and Mysore on the trip to
India.  We asked our German companion living in Bangalore what she considered the main
attractions in Bangalore.  She replied "There are none" and added that Bangalore was a
very good place to work and shop, but that there was nothing in Bangalore worth a visit.   
Checking further, we decided she was right and we took Bangalore off our itinerary.  Then
we figured that if we were not going to Bangalore it was nor worthwhile going on to Mysore.
 Thus Bangalore and Mysore were removed from our tentative itinerary.
Daulatabad Fortress entrance.
Passageway into Dakota bag Fortress
To the left, forecourt of
one of the Ellora temples.   
Ellora's temples generally
have much larger forecourts
than Ajanta's because the
cliffs into which Ellora's
temples are excavated are
less steep.  Note elephant
carvings around the base.
Entrance to an Ellora temple.
Forecourt of an Ellora temple.
The two bas relief sculptures on the left and
the one above  are typical of the loving
relationships between men and women in Hindu
religious art.
In and around Aurangabad we noticed many riders, especially women, on motorbikes and
motor scooters.  Below are a few.  Note that nobody wears a helmet, all the women ride the
bikes side-saddle,
Woman with infant on lap.
Woman driving scooter.  We
saw no woman driving a
motorbike.  
Woman with child on back.