We bring a fascinating tour to well-known Ajanta caves from any part of India. Ajanta caves are famous for their unmatched artistic appeal and beauty. All the paintings in the Ajanta caves are centered around Buddhism and have been carved on mud-plaster. We provide the best pick and drop facilities with a detailed sight seeing, thus giving a perfect value for money.
The caves are in a wooded and rugged horseshoe-shaped ravine about 3½ km from the village of Ajantha. It is situated in the Aurangābād district of Maharashtra State in India (106 kilometers away from the city of Aurangabad). The nearest towns are Jalgaon (60 kilometers away) and Bhusawal (70 kilometers away). Along the bottom of the ravine runs the river Waghur, a mountain stream. There are 29 caves (as officially numbered by the Archaeological Survey of India), excavated in the south side of the precipitous scarp made by the cutting of the ravine. They vary from 35 to 110 ft. in elevation above the bed of the stream.
The monastic complex of Ajanta consists of several viharas (monastic halls of residence) and chaitya-grihas (stupa monument halls) cut into the mountain scarp in two phases. The first phase is mistakenly called the Hinayana phase (referring to the Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism, when the Buddha was revered symbolically). Actually, Hinayana – a derogative term for Sthaviravada – does not object to Buddha statues. At Ajanta, cave numbers 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15A (the last one was re-discovered in 1956, and is still not officially numbered) were excavated during this phase. These excavations have enshrined the Buddha in the form of the stupa, or mound.
The second phase of excavation at the site began after a lull of over three centuries. This phase is often inappropriately called the Mahayana phase (referring to the Greater Vehicle tradition of Buddhism, which is less strict and encourages direct cow depiction of the Buddha through paintings and carvings). Some prefer to call this phase the Vakataka phase after the ruling dynasty of the house of the Vakatakas of the Vatsagulma branch. The dating of the second phase has been debated among scholars. In recent years a consensus seems to be converging on 5th-century dates for all the Mahayana or Vakataka phase caves. According to Walter M. Spink, a leading Ajantologist, all the Mahayana excavations were carried out from 462 to 480 CE. The caves created during the Mahayana phase are the ones numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. Cave 8 was long thought to be a Hinayāna cave, however current research shows that it is in fact a Mahayana cave. More Information >>>>>
|