The time was 2nd Century BC. In the western part of ancient India, the Waghur river streamed down a sunlit valley below the steep mountain that looked very much like a half-circle amphitheatre. The lush green vegetation around the mountain and the sound of the splashing river, made this place ideal for meditation. To this peaceful natural set-up, arrived the Buddhist monks. And to take shelter from rain and wilderness, they chiselled out the volcanic mountain walls, to form caves.

At that time, this location was very near to the trade route that connected ancient India with other countries, and very soon this location started attracting travellers and traders. Right then the monks appointed local artists. They beautifully illustrated the cave walls and ceilings depicting stories from Jataka – the life of Budhha. Thus the Ajanta Caves of ancient India flourished as a religious-tourist destination.

In present times, Ajanta is still a very popular historic-tourist destination. The caves lie in about 107 Kms by road, to the north of Aurangabad city, in the state of Maharashtra. Total 29 rock-cut caves are now an UNESCO world heritage site, preserved by the Archaeological Survey of India. However, not all the caves are accessible by the tourists as a lot of them are in a state of ruin and are being carefully renovated.

Ajanta caves are one of the finest surviving example of exquisite ancient Indian art, representing the legends of Buddha and his teachings in the form of dramatic gestures and poses and refined techniques of ancient mural paintings.

Murals at Ajnata Cave

Quick Note:

Location: In the State of Maharashtra, India – in about 3 hours drive from the nearest city of Aurangabad.

Timings: The caves open at 9 Am and close at 5:30 Pm. Remain closed on all Mondays. So plan accordingly.

Entry Fees: For Indian nationals and visitors from SAARC countries it is INR 30 per head.

For Foreigners it is INR 500 (about USD 7 per head).

If you are carrying a professional DSLR camera or a video camera, then you have to pay INR 25 extra.

For children below 15 years, entry is free.

Local Language: Marathi and Hindi. The managing staffs of the caves can communicate in English. If needed, you may hire English or Hindi speaking tour guides from the entrance.

Local currency: Indian Rupees. Most of the transactions happen in cash.

Best time to visit: To visit this part of India I always prefer November to February, when temperature drops moderately and it is not humid. But end of June to September can also be beautiful, since the surroundings become amazingly green in the monsoon time. However, in rainy season the caves and the surrounding rocks may get a bit slippery, so mind it. Better to avoid summer time (March to early June), it becomes unbelievably hot and humid then.

Carry along: Enough drinking water supply. Never refill bottles from the taps, but buy packaged drinking water if needed (there is a canteen inside the complex).

Wear a hat, sunglasses and carry sunscreens.

There will be a lot of walking, so wear a comfortable sports shoe.

Prefer to wear light cotton clothings, jeans or comfortable sports trousers. A light jacket would be necessary in winter, and rain jacket if visiting in monsoon.

Entrance to a cave, Ajanta

For guidance on booking tickets and hotel check this out: Don’t book your next trip until you read this Blog

Getting there:

The nearest city of arrival to visit both Ajanta caves and Ellora cave temple is Aurangabad, which is in Maharashtra state. I am going to come back soon with another blog on The Ellora caves and Kailasa Temple. Aurangabad is well connected with the rest of the country by rail, air and road. We have selected Aurangabad as a base when we visited Ajanta and Ellora. So that way we were also able to visit the city and the Daulatabad (Devgiri) fort and its remains from Tughlaq dynasty, that also has quite a story behind it. I’ll soon come up with another blog on this.

Another option opens up in case you travel by train, and that is Jalgaon city. Jalgaon is the nearest rail station from Ajanta (60 Kms) whereas Aurangabad is 107 Kms. There are hotels Jalgaon city as well. However, we feel, staying in Aurangabad is a better option and also is reasonable, as there are many budget friendly stay options in the city. And also, you would be able to find good amount of transportation option to visit both Ajanta and Ellora from the Aurangabad city.

To visit Ajanta caves the best option is to book a car for whole day. The to-n-fro charges for a full day trip in a car is about INR 3000 (USD 45 approx). There are public buses as well that runs everyday between Ajanta caves and Aurangabad city. To reach Ajanta from Aurangabad, it may take about 2 and half hours to 3 hours by road.

Exploring the caves:

Not all the caves always remain open for tourists. Quite a few caves were under renovation when we visited, but even then, we have spent an entire day looking at the astounding murals and sculptures, every now and then finding hints of the events from Jataka legends from the remains of the paintings.

The Ajanta Caves are said to be one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in the world, which was developed in 2 phases. The first half started in 2nd Century BC that mainly revealed Hinayana influence, where Buddha was depicted in the form of symbols. This reference can be found in the caves no 9 and 10, which are assumed to be the oldest of the lot. Cave no 9 has a “Chaitya Griha” consisting of a Stupa, which reveals Hinayana style of worship.

The second phase was developed after 400 CE, when Mahayana influence took over. As seen in the caves no 1, 2, 16 and 17, Buddha was then portrayed in his human form. Cave no 16 depicts the famous legend of “Maya’s Dream” of the white elephant, conception and birth of Buddha, and stories of his early life. Few of these scenes are badly damaged by water seepage and blistering of the rocks. Cave no 17 has the famous masterpiece of “Bodhisatva Padmapani” depicting a massive image Buddha in his human form with a blue lotus in his hand.

Bodhisatva Padmanapani, in the dimly lit cave no 17, Ajanta

When you visit the caves keep a couple of things in mind –
These paintings are ancient and very fragile. Some of these murals are guarded by iron barricades, but some are not. Of course the preservation process needs to be more careful. Even then, touching the paintings would ensure faster decay of the colours. So make sure that you maintain a good distance from the walls even if they are not barricaded.
The interiors of the caves are dimly lit. The main reason is because light affects colour decay. So while taking photographs of the paintings, one must not use flash or artificial lights.

Sculptures at Ajanta Caves

Since these caves were chiselled out of the volcanic rocks, the surface of the cave walls were porous. To make the walls smoother the artists plastered the walls with mud and vegetable fibres before applying colours. Though the plasters smoothed and strengthened the walls, the vegetable fibres invited insects are bacterias. As the result many of the paintings were easily spoiled with time.

The pigments they used to paint the walls came mainly from local rocks. They also used vegetable colours and organic colours such as lamp black and vermillion. Later they introduced Lapis Lazuli for blue pigmentation as primarily seen in the caves no 16 and 17.

Keep an eye on the caves no 1, 2, 9, 10, 16 and 17, number 17 being the most important with a great number of legendary masterpieces and beautiful illustrative narrations of Buddha’s life.