Sacred hand-carved caves of ancient India

Press, 7 December 1976, Page 36

Sacred hand-carved caves of ancient India

Pictures by

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor of "The Press"

India is promoting the 2000-year-old man-made caves of A janta and Ellora, 200 kilometres north-east of Bombay. Three new luxury hotels have been completed at Aurangabad, the town which is being developed as base for day trips to the caves. Aurangabad is linked to Bombay by a comfortable 45-minute, Indian Airlines Boeing 737 flight. India’s superb international airline, Air-India, is now flying 747 jumbos twice a week from Australia to Bombay.

The pictures on this page were taken at Ajanta, which is about 60 kilometres from Aurangabad. Ajanta’s 30 rock-hewn caves were cut into the scarp of a cliff for use as either chapels or monastries. They were completed in two phases—the first lasting from the second century B.C. to the second century A.D., with the second phase beginning in the fifth century.

On the walls inside the caves at Ajanta are paintings, of a Buddhist theme, depicting the pulsating world of 2000 years ago. Both inside and out are many finely executed sculptures and giant hand-carved pillars. The caves were discovered 150 years ago by a British Army officer on a tiger hunt. The Ellora Caves, 30 kilometres from Aurangabad, are not exclusively Buddhist. The 34 caves include temples of the Jain and Hindu faiths. Further information is available from the Government of India Tourist Office, Carlton Centre, 55 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Australia.