Location of Ajanta: - The world famous rock cut caves Ajanta are located in the state of Maharashtra around 105 kms from The city of Aurangabad and around 60 kms from the city of Jalgaon. From the Highway the caves are further around 4 kms deep in to the wilderness.
Ajanta By Road: - You can approach the Ajanta caves either from the city of Aurangabad which is around 2 hours drive, if you are using the Maharashtra state road bus service it will take around 3 hours to reach the caves of Ajanta, from the town of Jalgaon the caves are around an hour’s drive and the bus might take an hour and half to reach the caves.
Ajanta By Air: - The Aurangabad airport is the nearest airport which has direct flight connectivity with Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Udaipur etc.
Ajanta By Train: - The nearest railway station is the Jalgaon railway station. Aurangabad is another railway station which falls on the same rail line. Aurangabad is a junction with very good connectivity with other parts of India.
History and Architecture : - These are rock cut caves cut in tough basalt rocks, these caves were hidden from the humanity for almost 1000 years after they were made around 2000 years back. An English officer Mr. Smith was on a hunting spree he noticed the excellent rock cut formation which was completely obscured from the common man’s eyes. The restoration was done and the world came to know about the caves of Ajanta. There are 30 rock cut caves only 26 are open to the tourists. These caves have excellent paintings and rock cut structures related with the life and times of Lord Buddha.
In year 1983 these caves were accorded the status of the world heritage under the united nations scheme. These caves were made for the Buddhist monks who were supposed to live and practice dharma in this secluded wilderness. There are halls in every cave for the monks to congregate and the Viharas or the residential rooms for the monks. The halls having large idols of lord Lord Buddha were called the Chaityas.
The ceilings of these caves have been beautifully decorated with paintings from the life and time of lord Buddha and the Jataka tales.
The caves numbered 1 to 26 are all related with the life and times of lord Buddha accordingly paintings and idols have been made, the cave number 1 starts with the birth of lord Buddha, how he marries and finally leaves his family in search of the eternal truth, how he attains salvation or the nirwana under the Bodhi tree and finally he attains pari nirwana. The cave 26 shows the lord Buddha in Maha pari Nirwana Mudra that is Buddha has been depicted in sleeping form.
Just opposite the hills from which the rock cut caves have been carved is the view point from where the English officer Mr. Smith cited these caves as these caves were discovered in 1819.
These caves were constructed from 2 century BCE to the 6th century ACE.
Entrance: - The caves at the Ajanta are taken care and managed by the Archeological survey of India the charges for the entrance ticket are as follows
Indian tourists: - Adults- INR 30, children below 15 are allowed entry free of charge.
BIMSTEC Nations: –INR 30- Adults
Foreign Nationals: –INR INR 500 children below 15- Free
Best time to visit: - The best time to explore these caves sure is the winter time from November to March, avoid visiting this area in summers and rainy season as the summers are quite hot while the rains can be severe and can continue for days unabated.
