Ajanta

By pravinpratap2007

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The caves of Ajanta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is situated on the northern fringe of the Maharastra plateau. They lie off one of the ancient trade routes connecting Western India to North India through Mahishmati and Ujjain. Extending over 550m, they are aligned in a horse-shoe formation. The caves, carved out by Buddhist monks, are a fine combination of architectural and sculptural works, and paintings.

There are in all 30 caves (including the unfinished ones). Ajanta indicates two phases of rock-cutting activity. The first was the pre-Buddhist phase ascribed to the the 2nd century BC, and the second was in the fourth century AD where influences of wood art and Buddhism can be seen.

The beautiful paintings belong mostly to the Gupta period. The theme of Ajanta paintings are intensely religious in tone and mostly centre around Buddha the Buddisattavas, and incidents from the life of Buddha and the Jatakas.


Hours:
9.00AM to 17.30PM
Ajata caves remain closed on monday.

By Air: Aurangabad is the nearest Air point for Ajanta. It can be reached from New Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay) easily, international airport.

By Rail:
If you like Rail journey so Jalgaon is the best place to drop in for Ajanta .




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