Caves Part III - Ajanta

We saved the best for last.  The Caves of Ajanta differ from the previous two caves because these ones have paintings that have been well preserved.  Ajanta is the oldest of the group (2nd century BC) and when work on Ellora began, Ajanta was left alone.  They sat hidden under foliage for centuries until a British hunting party stumbled on them in the early 1800s.  Our guide book (Lonely Planet) made it sound like Ajanta wasn't as important as Ellora, but both Jeff and I agreed that Ajanta was more impressive. I have heard about the Caves of Ajanta for years - they were something that affected my mom deeply when she and my dad traveled here in 1977.

The caves are set back in the hills a bit and are all Buddhist caves.  There are painted murals that span the caves depicting Buddha's life.  There was a feeling there, a mix of these beautiful caves and the natural setting, that gave me the same kind of feeling I had when I was at Macchu Pichu.  A hard to describe feeling that affected my being.

A shot of the caves carved into the hillside.

This is a painting of Padmapani in Cave 1 and one of the better preserved murals.

No flash was allowed inside, so I got this of a simple painting outside and it is remarkable how much color remains.

A distorted photo of Jeff in front of a Buddha statue. The caves were also quite well lit by the government.

An example of a chaitya-hall (Buddhist prayer hall)

Frescos on some columns in the chaitya-hall

Carvings well lit which gave off a really cool appearance.

More paintings

This is a 9 meter carving of Buddha sleeping

This concludes our three part series on caves.  Jeff and I are taking an overnight train tonight to Varansi. It will be nice to finally bathe in the Ganges!

Caves Part II – Ellora

The Caves of Ellora are located outside the city of Aurangabad (or A-grunge-abad as Jeff called it). There are a total of 34 caves located here by three different religions: Buddhism, Brahmanism (Hindu), and Jainism. The caves have been carved into the side of a hill and span about 2km.

The focal point of the caves is Cave 16 called Kailasha, a Hindu cave worked on in the 8^th century. Unfortunately while we were there we were sharing the space with what felt to be 1.5 million Indian school children, so some of the grandeur was lost while we fielded questions on “What country?” “What is your name?” and queries for photos.

Caves 1-10 are Buddhist.

Here is Jeff in front of the first few caves, which are also the oldest.

Buddha statue

Caves 11-29 are Hindu.

This is from Cave 15.

Caves 30-34 are Jain, but unfortunately the path was closed off to these caves, and the only access was by car, which we did not have. So we have no photos of the last caves. I would have liked to see the different style from that religion. Jains represent about 0.4% of the population, but Jeff and I have been surprised by how many markers of Jainism we've seen.

This is us before realizing we couldn't see the Jain caves.

These monkeys were trying to catch a ride back into town. (Just kidding.)

Up next: Caves of Ajanta.

Caves Part I - Elephanta

This is Cave Part I in a three part series of posts.  About 9 km off the coast of Mumbai lies Elephanta Island.  It was named this by the Portuguese for when they landed on the small island there was a stone elephant in front.  The elephant has since been moved to the Mumbai Zoo. It's Hindu name is Gharapuri (place of caves) and it is a stone cave temple dedicated to Shiva. It's age is unknown, but believed to be built between the 5th and 8th centuries AD.

The island was about an hour boat ride from the Gateway to India in South Mumbai (Colaba)

This is the entrance to the caves from the east

I'm in front of one of several Shiva statues. Some of Shiva's arms and legs have broken off over the years; our tour guide claims it was due to target practice by the Portuguese when they first occupied the island.

More of the ornate stone work.

This last picture is of the focal point of the temple.  It shows three sides of Shiva's head to represent the three aspects of Shiva: creation faces front, protection is the face on the right, and destruction on the left. The carving is about 20 feet tall and the sight of it is breathtaking. We were fortunate to have a tour guide that explained all of the carvings to us, and some of the mythology behind them.

This has been one of the more awe inspiring sites we have seen thus far, but coming up we have the caves of Ellora and Ajanta!

Mumbai (Bombay)

We arrived in Mumbai (named changed from Bombay in 1996, so many people still call it Bombay) yesterday morning.  Our hotel is awful, so we decided to only stay two days here. The hotel rooms are twice or three times as expensive in this city as the rest of India, so what our budget allows isn't much here!

We are staying in the Fort district, which has all the beautiful Victorian buildings, large leafy walks, and lots and lots of shops.

This is the Victoria Terminal Train Station

Example of some of the architecture

The leafy sidewalks

Last night we wanted to see a Bollywood film while actually in Bollywood, but the Hindi films aren't shown with English subtitles.  So we settled for an American film - "The Green Hornet."  We really enjoyed the film and the movie going experience was quite fun. There are assigned seats when you buy your ticket and turns out the preferred seats are the furthest back.  There is also always an intermission, even if the movie is only 1.5 hrs. I also had to check my camera battery at the door so that I couldn't take any pics or video of the movie. It was a great experience, and when we got out of the theater around 11pm last night, we found out that a city of 16 million people can feel like a ghost town at that hour!

I will post more photos after today.  We are off to see Elephanta Island, 9km off of the shore from the Gateway to India.

So Hampi Together

After an awful overnight bus ride from Gokarna (the company overbooked and one guy had to sleep on the floor) we arrived in Hampi.  It is a very small town, with only about 4000 people, who live within the ruins of one of the largest Hindu empires in history.  It's heyday was in the 16th century, until it was destroyed by Deccan sultanates.  The area is a World Heritage site and has over a hundred significant archeology sites.

We spent all of today wandering around the sites, taking pictures, and dying of the heat. Our hotel is the other side of a river from Hampi and it is a relaxed, hippie-type atmosphere where each restaurant offers continental (western food), Israeli, and maxican food (that isn't a typo - every restaurant calls it MAXICAN. We can't figure out why there is such a prevalence for spelling errors here).

The people actually live and work within the ruins.  Above is a shop selling clothing within 500 year old walls!

This is the main temple within Hampi. Very similar architecture to what we have seen around the south.

The landscape around the area.  Very beautiful rocks, a nice river, and lots of palm trees!

The first monkeys we've been near! But don't lend them your ipod because they won't return it.

A shot of one of the bazaars.

The Lotus Matal (with Jeff in the foreground)

Bathing in the river and some oddly shaped boats

My handsome hubby kindly obliging me this photo even though he was extremely hot and tired.

I'm standing in front of an actual carriage that used to roll on those stone wheels!

These are musical columns.  If you hit them, they make sounds - you can no longer do this as the government is trying to preserve them.

We are staying in Hampi another few days, but we've seen the big tourist sites already. On Sunday we are taking an overnight bus to Mumbai!! Yay!!

Gokarna and the Nirvana Cafe

Jeff and I arrived at the heavenly Nirvana Cafe yesterday morning after a grueling 14 hour bus ride from Mysore. Gokarna is located in the northwest part of the state of Karnataka, along the Indian Ocean.  The city has a couple of beaches.  We took an autorickshaw from the bus stand to Om Beach, and after hiking along the beach, settled into a beach shack at the Nirvana Cafe.

The view to the left from our place.

The view to the right. You can see the groups of Indian boys that filled the water, shrieking as they played.

Our beach shack.

Jeff enjoying breakfast this morning, with a beautiful ocean view.

The beautiful walkways around the Nirvana Cafe.

The front of the Nirvana Cafe

Us getting some great Kindle time in.  We LOVE our kindles!!

Our no frills shack, with a rock-hard mattress/pad. But we can hear the waves from inside.  It feels like camping.

The cows are even on the beaches here!

The sunset last night

It is so peaceful here, I can understand how people get sucked into staying longer than planned. Gokarna is becoming more popular as the hippies from Goa find that Goa is becoming more commercialized. Thankfully for us we haven't heard any didgeridoos yet or seen any drum circles! That is still more common in Goa. We will probably stay here another day or two before heading to see more of India's history in the ruins of Hampi.

Mysore Palace

We visited the Maharajah's Palace in Mysore yesterday.  It was gorgeous.  Giant grounds with gardens and Hindu temples.  We got to go inside but they have a strict no photography policy.  This palace was built in 1912 after the original palace burned down. The royal family lived in it until India gained independence in  1947.

 This is the front of the palace, facing east. Imagine the Raj leaving this entrance atop an elephant with hundreds of guards to greet his public.

 This is the Raj's Hundai.

 This is a Hindu temple behind me.

What's up next: Jeff and I are heading to the beach for a little rest and relaxation.  We're going to Gokarna, a small beach town just south of Goa on the western coast.