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Other entries in Aurangābād

Historic Ajanta and Ellora Caves

Aurangbad has some phenominal history.  Dating from the first and second centuries a community was formed along a steap riverbank.  They carved out huge Buddhist temples and homes (from top to bottom), some being 30 ft high, and maybe 80 ft deep.  These caves were also covered with paintigs on all walls and ceilings.  It's an amazing place to see,just to imagine the work of carving an entire village out of one huge rock face.  To help light the place, some of the larger places had a large square in the middle which would be filled with an inch of water to help reflect the light. 

Ellora contains a similar but even more fascinating site.  Starting in 400AD there are Buddhist temples (and schools) which the local Buddhists from the village would come for the spring.  The reason was spring brings so much life and they wanted to prevent harming it.

As predominant religions in the area changed, then huge Hindu temples were built.  These are amazing in grandeur. After this period some Jain temples were also built.  These are much more modest in size(even compared to the Buddhist ones), but they are the most intricate in work. 

The days for these tours were quite hot - must have been close to 30... we packed LOTS of water.

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