India 2003, Page 3

The next day was bright and beautiful and after a much-appreciated shower and a good 10 hours of sleep, we were ready, once again, to face the prospect of climbing. Off we went to Ajanta which was much more contained than the vast expanse that was Ellora. We went in order, seeing the caves from first-carved to last-carved and made it, at the end, to the hundreds of stairs of some mountain-looking place in the curve of the caves (I told you we climbed everything in sight). The Buddhas were phenomenal and the caves richly painted - a fantastic way to start the day!

BRIEF HISTORY OF AJANTA
scroll down if you hate history
Ajanta is almost as remote today as it was in the 1st century BC, when it was a Buddhist retreat. Its architects chose a sheer cliff-face above a horseshoe-shaped canyon along the Waghora River to render their contemplative spiritual visions in painting and sculpture. The 29 caves were carved out between the 1st century BC and the 6th century AD in two distinct and separate phases. Their construction was halted when Hinduism became dominant in the 1st century AD. It wasn't until emperor Harisena of the Vakataka Dynasty, a Buddhist, came to power in the 5th century AD, that excavation of Ajanta's caves resumed. At the end of the 7th century, Buddhism began to decline in the land of its origin and its shrines fell into desolation and ruin. For a thousand years, Ajanta lay buried in the jungle-clad slopes of the western mountain range, until in 1819 it was discovered accidentally by the British army officer John Smith who spied cave 10 from the opposite ridge while tiger hunting.

And thus began the tourist attraction of Ajanta...

Much more so than Ellora, Buddhas reigned supreme at Ajanta where every cave would possess at least once (sometimes hundreds). By the 10th cave, Mercedee would run into a cave, come out and say, 'there's just some more Buddhas in there'. They were beautiful though...

The caves can be seen embedded into the mountain side from each side of the horseshoe.

Not only was the sculpture amazing (considering its age and all), but it was dramatically lit in many of the caves. Gotta love those curators.

A traditional cave... carvings on every pillar and a separate room for the main Buddha to sit. A phenomenal place to visit!

This is the famed Reclining Buddha who is in Cave 26. Apparently it shows the Buddha on the verge of leaving this world, entering Nirvana. The procession of people below him is mourning his departure from earth, but in the heavens, everyone is rejoicing.

Some of the last caves remain unfinished, but I thought they were some of the coolest caves to go into. It was like viewing Michelangelo's Slaves... form breaking free from the confines of stone. And again with the dramatic lighting. Lovely.

These guys were on almost every pillar... little women (men?) with big bellies holding up an incredible load.
The big-bellied helpers. Excellent.

After we had finished viewing the caves, there was a mountain-like structure that we could get to by crossing that bridge. You better believe we went right over there!

This is the view from the bridge of what remains of the river. I saw a bunch of frogs hopping on the rocks... aaaah, the life of frogs.

By the time we got up the mountain, we made out a small little waterfall that kids were bathing in and doing laundry in below...
gotta love laundry days!

We all got back to Ahmednagar in one piece - Mom having survived the camel invasion and Mercedee and I having lived through the endless climbing. Since we had a few weeks left, we entertained ourselves as best we could.

A pup that sat with us on the porch while mom smoked. The best part of this dog, beside those fantastic eyes, is the abundance of hair that sprouts from his ears. Gives new meaning to ear hair.
:)

Mehera and Gary were nice enough to invite us to dinner which was fantastic and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Girls!
Mom, Mehera, Alishya, Mercedee & Anna (and Gary's great photography skills!)

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Mehera and Gary's house - my mother went a little nuts with the photos :)