The caves of ajanta and ellora gap filling

They are likely the best places you’ve never heard of. What are they? Ajanta and Ellora are two huge cave complexes carved out of the rock of the Deccan Plateau in India. They are both UNESCO world heritage sites filled with Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples, sculptures, and paintings that are over 2000 years old. As an archaeological site, they are up there with the Pyramids of Giza, Ankgor Wat, and the Roman Colosseum. They preserve a snapshot of the ancient history of the Indian subcontinent. We visited Ajanta and Ellora this winter while visiting family in India. It was one of the best things we did while there. I felt like Indiana Jones the whole time. If you’re going to India anyways, take a few days out of your itinerary and go there. Cave 16 at Ellora. An entire temple carved out of a single stone. Logistics • Where is it? Ajanta and Ellora are two separate sites in the state of Maharashtra in central India. The closest major city is Aurangabad. You can base your trip out of there. A Google map is linked below. Ellora is about 1 hour from Aurangabad. Ajanta is about 2.5 hours from Aurangabad. • How long? You need two full days and three nights to see both sites appropriately. One day to see Ellora, one day to see Ajanta, and part of a day to see the other sites. Get a flight back in the evening to so that you get the whole day to sightsee the last day. • How to get there? Fly to Aurangabad on Jet Airways from anywhere in India. We did a short hop from Kolkata throu...

The caves at Ajanta date from the 2nd century B.C.E. to 650 C.E and were cut into the mountainside in two distinct phases. Discovered by chance in 1819 by British soldiers on a hunt, the Ajanta Caves have become an icon of ancient Indian art, and have influenced subsequent artists and styles. The caves at the site are not numbered chronologically. Instead, their numbering based on location, beginning with cave 1 on the north side of the horseshoe. All of the caves at Ajanta fall into the category of Vihara (monasteries with residence halls), or Chaitya-grihas (sanctuaries/stupa monument halls). Nevertheless, each cave has its own unique characteristics, making it difficult to write about Ajanta as a whole. ​The main hall of Cave 1 is a square in plan, with aisles along all four sides. Adjacent to these aisles are doorways leading to fourteen small chambers. Cave 1 contains twenty painted and carved pillars. Above the pillars are reliefs depicting tales from the life of Buddha (Jataka tales). Located at the rear of the hall is a large shrine of the Buddha. The walls were originally covered in paintings, but today there are only nine surviving images, the most famous being the Bodhisattva Padmapani (Padmapani in Sanskrit literally translates into "one who holds the lotus"). This painting can be found to the left on the main shrine. It depicts one of the most beloved bodhisattvas, Avalokitesvara. The term "bodhisattva" refers to a person that has been awakened by the Buddhist...

Synopsis Located in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are Maharashtra’s star tourist attractions. The curiosity surrounding the caves has led many travellers and historians to visit as well. Both UNESCO World Heritag … Located in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are Maharashtra’s star tourist attractions. The curiosity surrounding the caves has led many travellers and historians to visit as well. Both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ajanta and Ellora Caves have some of the finest Indian paintings and sculptures. About nine hours away from Mumbai by road, the caves are visited every year by thousands of people. Let us find out some interesting facts about the caves, and try to trace their origins. Located in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are Maharashtra’s star tourist attractions. The curiosity surrounding the caves has led many travellers and historians to visit as well. Both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ajanta and Ellora Caves have some of the finest Indian paintings and sculptures. About nine hours away from • Kolkata Bangkok Highway likely to open in coming 4 years; details inside • Delhi-Leh: Country’s highest altitude bus service is back on the road • Tokyo all set to open new Harry Potter theme park today The 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments date back to the 2nd century BCE to 480 CE. Here are some interesting facts about the Ajanta Caves - • The Ajanta Caves have five chaityas, which are basic...

This question asked in [CBSE Outside Delhi Set I, 2019] Fill in the blanks in the paragraph given below by choosing the most appropriate options from the ones that follow. Attempt any four. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers. The Caves of Ajanta and Ellora 1 . the magnificent works of sculpture. Whoever 2 . there 3 . spellbound. Thousands 4 . tourists visit these places every year. One can stay 5 . the guest houses 1.(A) is (B) are (C) was (D) were 2.(A) go (B) going (C) goes (D) went 3.(A) becomes (B) become (C) becoming (D) has become 4.(A) for (B) of (C) from (D) at 5.(A) on (B) over (C) upon (D) in Answer (1) • (a) is - not used with plural • (b) are - this is correct • (c) was - not used with present tense • (d) were - not used with present tense Since the sentence is in present perfect tense, the third form of the verb, ‘goes’ will be used So, the correct answer is “(c)-goes”. (3) • (a) becomes - this is correct • (b) become - not used with singular pronouns • (c) becoming - not the first form of verb • (d) has become - not the first form of verb Since the sentence is talking about the individuals who visit the caves , ‘s’ will be added with the first form of the verb. So, ‘becomes’ will be used So, the correct answer is “(a)-becomes”. (4) • (a) for - not relevant with count • (b) of - this is correct • (c) from - not relevant with count • (d) at - not relevant with count Since the sentence is talking about the number of tourists...

Huffing and puffing up a hill was not what I had in mind when I pictured the basalt caves of Ellora, built between the 6th and 11th centuries. I tell my guide, Amod Basole, that I was expecting to hold torches - why, even candles - up to immaculately coiffured gods and goddesses in deep, dark, bat-infested chambers. The ribbed ceilings at the Mahayana chaityas at Ellora have acoustics that facilitate soul-stirring echoes ADVERTISEMENT Basole smirks and looks rather pleased with himself and the incline. I decide to trust him. I, for one, do not know too many businessmen who have given up their two-decade-long careers to become travel guides at the age of 50. I tell Basole he has the gravitas; he tells me he is just too confused to ‘settle down’. The Kailasa complex was built from a megalith and took over a century and a half to be completed. Pics/Kareena N Gianani Then, he points to our left. There it is - what some might call Ellora’s raison d’etre - the Kailasa. Basole shows me the topmost point on the roof of the three-storey, three-dimensional temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva below. Four menacing chimeras form a circle, overlooked by a carving of Shiva. “This is the only carving with its nose intact. No other sculpture in the 34 caves of Ellora, has a nose as unblemished.” Some say that the Ajanta caves have been overshadowed by the carvings at Ellora, but that sentiment seems largely misplaced when you walk through the 31 caves around a horseshoe-shaped hill The Kailasa...

The Deccan Traps continental flood basalt province, ~ 65 million years in age and covering ~ 500,000 km 2 of western and central India today, contains some 1200 rock-cut caves. The largest and finest are the Ajanta Caves (second century B.C. to seventh century A.D.), famous for their Buddhist religious sculptures and murals, and the Ellora Caves (fifth to eleventh centuries A.D.), equally famous for their Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious sculptures. Both sites are protected monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and extensive studies of their architectural and artistic heritage exist. However, no detailed geological-volcanological account of these monuments exists in the Deccan Traps literature, except for brief mentions of their well-developed compound pāhoehoe lava flows. This paper documents the well-exposed stacking geometry of these lava flows, compound at various size scales, and their internal structures. The latter include a three-tier division into upper crust, core and lower crust, basal pipe vesicles, upper crustal vesicular banding, ropy surfaces, and lobes and tumuli with tensional inflation clefts which sometimes produced lava squeeze-ups and were commonly filled by younger lava. The lava flows are thus hummocky pāhoehoe, like many modern basaltic lava flows of Kilauea. They may be distal parts of the same lava flows or flow fields which are represented by sheet lobes in proximal (near-vent) areas. The Ajanta and El...

This question asked in [CBSE Outside Delhi Set I, 2019] Fill in the blanks in the paragraph given below by choosing the most appropriate options from the ones that follow. Attempt any four. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers. The Caves of Ajanta and Ellora 1 . the magnificent works of sculpture. Whoever 2 . there 3 . spellbound. Thousands 4 . tourists visit these places every year. One can stay 5 . the guest houses 1.(A) is (B) are (C) was (D) were 2.(A) go (B) going (C) goes (D) went 3.(A) becomes (B) become (C) becoming (D) has become 4.(A) for (B) of (C) from (D) at 5.(A) on (B) over (C) upon (D) in Answer (1) • (a) is - not used with plural • (b) are - this is correct • (c) was - not used with present tense • (d) were - not used with present tense Since the sentence is in present perfect tense, the third form of the verb, ‘goes’ will be used So, the correct answer is “(c)-goes”. (3) • (a) becomes - this is correct • (b) become - not used with singular pronouns • (c) becoming - not the first form of verb • (d) has become - not the first form of verb Since the sentence is talking about the individuals who visit the caves , ‘s’ will be added with the first form of the verb. So, ‘becomes’ will be used So, the correct answer is “(a)-becomes”. (4) • (a) for - not relevant with count • (b) of - this is correct • (c) from - not relevant with count • (d) at - not relevant with count Since the sentence is talking about the number of tourists...

The Deccan Traps continental flood basalt province, ~ 65 million years in age and covering ~ 500,000 km 2 of western and central India today, contains some 1200 rock-cut caves. The largest and finest are the Ajanta Caves (second century B.C. to seventh century A.D.), famous for their Buddhist religious sculptures and murals, and the Ellora Caves (fifth to eleventh centuries A.D.), equally famous for their Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious sculptures. Both sites are protected monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and extensive studies of their architectural and artistic heritage exist. However, no detailed geological-volcanological account of these monuments exists in the Deccan Traps literature, except for brief mentions of their well-developed compound pāhoehoe lava flows. This paper documents the well-exposed stacking geometry of these lava flows, compound at various size scales, and their internal structures. The latter include a three-tier division into upper crust, core and lower crust, basal pipe vesicles, upper crustal vesicular banding, ropy surfaces, and lobes and tumuli with tensional inflation clefts which sometimes produced lava squeeze-ups and were commonly filled by younger lava. The lava flows are thus hummocky pāhoehoe, like many modern basaltic lava flows of Kilauea. They may be distal parts of the same lava flows or flow fields which are represented by sheet lobes in proximal (near-vent) areas. The Ajanta and El...

The caves at Ajanta date from the 2nd century B.C.E. to 650 C.E and were cut into the mountainside in two distinct phases. Discovered by chance in 1819 by British soldiers on a hunt, the Ajanta Caves have become an icon of ancient Indian art, and have influenced subsequent artists and styles. The caves at the site are not numbered chronologically. Instead, their numbering based on location, beginning with cave 1 on the north side of the horseshoe. All of the caves at Ajanta fall into the category of Vihara (monasteries with residence halls), or Chaitya-grihas (sanctuaries/stupa monument halls). Nevertheless, each cave has its own unique characteristics, making it difficult to write about Ajanta as a whole. ​The main hall of Cave 1 is a square in plan, with aisles along all four sides. Adjacent to these aisles are doorways leading to fourteen small chambers. Cave 1 contains twenty painted and carved pillars. Above the pillars are reliefs depicting tales from the life of Buddha (Jataka tales). Located at the rear of the hall is a large shrine of the Buddha. The walls were originally covered in paintings, but today there are only nine surviving images, the most famous being the Bodhisattva Padmapani (Padmapani in Sanskrit literally translates into "one who holds the lotus"). This painting can be found to the left on the main shrine. It depicts one of the most beloved bodhisattvas, Avalokitesvara. The term "bodhisattva" refers to a person that has been awakened by the Buddhist...

Synopsis Located in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are Maharashtra’s star tourist attractions. The curiosity surrounding the caves has led many travellers and historians to visit as well. Both UNESCO World Heritag … Located in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are Maharashtra’s star tourist attractions. The curiosity surrounding the caves has led many travellers and historians to visit as well. Both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ajanta and Ellora Caves have some of the finest Indian paintings and sculptures. About nine hours away from Mumbai by road, the caves are visited every year by thousands of people. Let us find out some interesting facts about the caves, and try to trace their origins. Located in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad region, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are Maharashtra’s star tourist attractions. The curiosity surrounding the caves has led many travellers and historians to visit as well. Both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ajanta and Ellora Caves have some of the finest Indian paintings and sculptures. About nine hours away from • Kolkata Bangkok Highway likely to open in coming 4 years; details inside • Delhi-Leh: Country’s highest altitude bus service is back on the road • Tokyo all set to open new Harry Potter theme park today The 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments date back to the 2nd century BCE to 480 CE. Here are some interesting facts about the Ajanta Caves - • The Ajanta Caves have five chaityas, which are basic...