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Other entries in Ajanta Caves

finally, more culture than garbage

saw our first ancient treasures of india (if you do'nt count the himalayas. which you shouldn't. cause technically they're still growing. and therefor still new ;) and the ajanta caves for sure fall into the beyond-spectacular category. these caves were carved into the black rock of a river valley - around 30 caves in all, mostly buddhist (SO great to see after so much hinduism around here). the first were started in 200 bc - and like machu picchu, amazing to see what could be done with rock, a few simple tools and LOADS of free time. some were used as temples, some as monestaries, ALL had intricate carvings and paintings over pretty much every square inch.

especially interesting were the 1/2 finished caves that helped show how they built the rooms. the pillars on the inside are solid rock - not added after, but carved out of the whole thing. most caves had one big room surrounded by these pillars, then a series of smaller rooms. at the back was another room holding a huge buddha, usually surrounded by carvings of lots of smaller buddhas. again - had to remind that this was all carved out of rock, not sculpted and added later....truly remarkable.

a lot of the fresco-style painting was chipping away but there were a few large spots still intact. the paintings tell the life of buddha and in addition to the monks living there, they had artisans painting the heck out of these caves. ohh to be an artist back then!

some of the caves had small pillars in addition to the biger ones and a security guard showed how if you bang on the smaller pillars, each produces a resonant tone in perfect harmony with the others. guess 6 monks would stand at each of the 6 pillars and make music. given when these temples were built, this could very well be the world's first rock band.....(sorry, that was so lame). anywhoo...it was *really* cool to hear.

the indian govt has launched a huge preservation effort. one guy had spent the past 5 months in the same dark, dank room (one room out of like 300) trying to stop the frescos from chipping.

ironically, using a much smaller budget, lining the whole place with garbage cans would maybe not preserve the frescoes, but would for sure preserve the whole area from becoming the classic indian dumping ground. too ironic....  peds hollered at a kid peeing outside one of the temples. I mean c'mon people, show a little respect to your national treasures here!

and the touts were out in full force.... why is it that even after you've politely said 'no' like 50 times (no exageration) to a tout trying to sell you jewelry ('dude, look - my 'wife' doesn't even wear jewelry. why don't you go after the indian women? they're COVERED in jewelry!'), they still keep trying. I hate even more that it makes me have to get mean with them.

sigh.....there are a few things about india that are truly exhausting me.....at least these temples were so stunning and memorable that they made up for a few of them!

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