1. Ajanta, Ellora,
Aurangabad and Lonar
A photographic report of a
memorable tour of the past
By Suneel Sule

2. Ellora Caves
Carved during Chalukya and Rashtrakoota dynasties between
1500 to 1000 years ago

3. Kailash Temple
An engineering marvel, cut from a single rock, working from top down .
I do not know those people, nor were they good looking. They are included for scale.

4. Although the world knows him only
as a villain, Ravana was a great
devotee of Lord Shiva. When he ran
out of flowers to offer, he used 9 of
his heads as offerings to the
shivalinga.
A rare feat possible for only those
who have heads to spare.

5. Being God does not guarantee
eternal peace, godhood too has its
ups and downs.
Here Ravana, in an attempt to show
off his strength, picked up the Lord’s
abode, the Kailash mountain on his
head. As he gave it a nasty shaking,
Parvati was terrified, but Lord Shiva
simply crushed Ravanas’s mighty
hand with his toe and then all was
well.
Effective curbing of terrorism dates
back to much older times than we
would imagine.

6. Very often
Sahaivas and
Vaishnavas
are sworn
enemies; but
the Chalukya
and
Rashtrakoota
rulers
respected
Lord Vishnu
as well.
Here we see the entire Ramayana carved out of stone.
Life was indeed difficult before cut-and-paste technology was invented.

7. Religeous tolerance of the
rulers was not limited to the
Vaishnavas alone; it extended
to Buddhist and Jain subjects
too. Out of the 34 caves of
ellora 17 are Hindu, 12
Buddhist and 5 Jain. This is one
Jain cave.

8. Each religion showed
architectural peculiarities. While
the Hindus lay emphasis on
human figures depicting
mythological heritage; the Jains
decorated the pillars with
elaborate ornamentation.

10. As it turns out, pillars were the
pillars of strength of Jain
architecture.

11. 7000 workers worked for 150
years and dug out 300,000 tons
of rock to complete this majestic
temple.

12. …but it did not take comparable efforts to
destroy and disfigure
Allauddin Khiljee sent his general Malik Kafur to the Deccan on a single point agenda.
Destruction.

13. Devagiri, the hill of Gods
In 12th century A.D. Yadava king Bhillama built a fort on this geological marvel

14. Allauddin Khiljee conquered the fort
through sheer brute power and
cruelty. King Ramdeva surrendered
and became a vassal of Khiljee. The
fort was renamed as Daulatabad
Fort. It was recaptured by both sides
a few times.
This monument Chand Minar was
built to commemorate one such
conquest in the 15th century.

15. Bibi ka Maqbara, poor man’s [or woman’s?] Taj Mahal,
built in the memory of Aurangzeb’s 4th wife, by her son.

16. If you are ever tempted to compare Bibi ka Maqbara with the Taj, look
at any picture of the Taj and the temptation will evaporate.

17. Ajanta
160 k.m. north of Aurangabad are the 2200 years old Buddhist caves of Ajanta.

18. For close to 1500 years after their completion these caves
remained abandoned. They were hidden from view with
growth of vegetation. This is what saved them from the evil
eye of the iconoclasts.
In the year 1819, while on a hunting mission, Maj. John Smith spotted this arch. The
then ruler, Nizam of Hyderabad ordered excavation and restoration. Today these caves
are declared world heritage and are being given the care they deserve.

19. Michelangelo be not proud.
The prestige of Ajanta caves lies not only in their sculptures but also in intricate
paintings depicting tales of previous incarnations of the Buddha.

20. In one of his incarnations, the Buddha was a
six tusked white elephant
Until recently the caves were unlit to protect the paintings. Now optical fibres carry gentle light into the caves.

21. A fusion of Heenayana and Mahayana styles showing a stoopa with idol of the Buddha

22. Mahanirvana: The Buddha departs
It was an occasion of simultaneous mourning and celebration.
While the mortals on earth mourned, the heavenly beings celebrated the arrival of the great soul

23. • = Chatting
with an
old
friend
on the
way
back.

24. Long long long long ago
40000 years back a meteor struck the Maharashtra plateau at Lonar.
It formed a crater 2 k.m. in diameter and hundreds of meters deep.
It is the only hypervelocity meteoritic crater in basaltic rock
and third largest in the world.

25. One of the ancient temples of Lonar.
Built in Hemadpanti style, it is made up of interlocking stones, no mortar or cement.

26. This temple was hidden under a mound of mud to avoid destruction by the invaders.

27. Waiting for a ringside view of the next meteor hit.
It takes a tiger’s courage for such brave acts.

28. Sabse rangeen subaha teri sabse rangeen teri shaam, tuzpe dil qurbaan

29. The MTDC resort which offered us shelter for the night and a view of the crater

30. Returning
home with
loads of
happy
memories.