Verul : Oct 2014

Second part of our one and a half day trip to Aurangabad was a visit to Ellora. Ellora is an archaeological site around 30 km north-west of the city of Aurangabad, Maharashtra. It is also known as 'Verul Leni' in local dialect. Ellora is known for Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cave temples.

Entrance to Kailasha Temple

Stone Pillar at Kailasha Temple

Kailasha Temple was carved out of single stone, starting from the top of the temple. The overall grandure, scale, carvings, quality of light makes it a real masterpiece.

Quality of light in the Garbhagriha makes you relax and forget the noise and hustle-bustle outside.

Play of light and shadow in different areas create different ambiances and moods.

The Vishwakarma is the only chaitya griha among the Buddhist group of caves. It follows the pattern of construction of Caves Ajanta

Visiting caves arranged in a sequence was both enriching and astonishing. To was thrilling to imagine amount of time and energy spent in creating these masterpieces with the tools and techniques available at that time and the precision they have achieved.

We reached Ellora in the morning at 11:00 am. and stayed there till 4:00 pm. We left Ellora to pack aur bags and left for Pune at 5:30pm.

Ajintha : Oct 2014

We left early in the morning to start our one and half day tour to Aurangabad, Maharashtra. We directly went to Ajanta Caves. A site of Archaeological importance. Situated in a densely forested area, it creates surprise at every point.

Pause point before you start journey through history.........

Steps to caves

Painting on the cave wall

Painting on the cave ceiling

Quiet and sublime expressions of  Buddha statues 

Inside of a cave

Chaitya Hall

Series of Caves

Our mesmerizing journey through these caves ended at a waterfall. We took a beak for night and started our next day early in the morning with visit to Sukhana Lake. After leaving main road, we traveled on mud road for last few kilometers to Sukhana lake. As it was not a peak season to spot migratory bird, nothing much could be spotted. Thought of taking another road to avoid the mud road which we traveled on. that road of 10 Km took 2 hrs....... Radiated got heated up...... everyone was walking outside the car to check probable injury to the vehicle....

Hampi, Badami, Pattadakal and Goa.............. Part III

This time monsoon made visit to Goa a unique experience. Landscape in monsoon was in its full glory. It looked even more astonishing than ever...... Its lush green landscape complementing whites and blues of the sea mesmerized us. As the rains accompanied us in our journey most of the fun filled moments remained only in memory. Following are some of the images which could be captured as a memento.....

Journey ends with 220 km covered in 2 hrs flat whereas last 100 km took more than 3 hr ..... thanx to national highways in Maharashtra state.....

Thanx to google map and Susan for help.......