After a quick visit to Madurai, we decided to fly to Aurangabad via Mumbai (flying here is hub and spoke, and Mumbai is the hub for the south western portion of the country. While driving would have taken the better part of 3 days (at least via bus), the flights were about an hour each. Flying in India is fast, efficient and pleasant – food is served on many of the flights, the service is friendly and the airports themselves are gleaming and modern. There is an enormous amount of security (especially in Mumbai, where your hand luggage is stamped as it goes through security and then re-checked as you board the plane), but this is understandable. In addition, when you fly in India, you get views like this:

Versus this:

We arrived in Aurangabad and found a room at the local government operated tourist hotel. In each of the places we’ve visited, the state government owns and operates a network of hotels and restaurants at popular tourist destinations – they tend to be clean and well maintained, if a little lacking in character. In many cases, the government operated restaurant is the sole restaurant on site at a particular tourist destination – this monopoly apparently allows them to afford niceties such dishes emblazoned with the government insignia. Aurangabad itself is a relatively modern, rapidly growing industrial city. It is really a taking off place for the nearby Ellora and Ajanta caves – ancient Buddhist, Jain and Hindu caves carved into the side of imposing cliffs, dating back to the 2nd century AD. Like so many of the amazing sites we’ve seen, they are both UNESCO World Heritage sites.

On the first day, we took a tuk tuk 30 km to the Ellora Caves. There are 32 caves in total, along a 2 km escarpment. The majority are Buddhist (12) and Hindu (14), and there are also six Jain caves. The Buddhist caves are the oldest, built in the 7th and the 8th centuries, the Hindu caves were built between the 7th and 9th centuries, and the Jain caves were built during Ellora’s final stage, in the 9th century. Ellora was built along an important trading route, and it was this revenue that allowed for 500 years of escavation at the site. Interestingly, the construction of Ellora corresponded to the decline of Buddhism and the simultaneous emergence of Hindu as the major religion of India, but it’s thought that the various religions co-existed peacefully through many centuries. When you wander through the caves, you can see how the artistic styles of one religion have influenced the other (i.e. in the later Buddhist caves, it is obvious that they are imitating the more grandiose Hindu architecture).

A view of the caves – carved into the side of a cliff

One of the Buddhist caves

The carvings are intricate and detailed, though some of them are unfinished – I particularly liked the lotus leaves on the ceiling

Rows of Buddhas line the walls, with columns throughout the caves.

The Buddhist caves, which we explored first, were serene, peaceful and undoubtedly impressive, but the Hindu caves, more warlike and animated, were jaw-droppingly unbelievable. The Kailasanatha temple, in particular, was one of the most impressive structures I’ve ever seen. Sculptors chiseled through 85,000 cubic meters of rock, beginning at the top and working their way down, to create this unbelievable 81m by 47m temple. The temple was commissioned by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna in the 8th century, and is designed to depict Mount Kailasa, the sacred abode of Lord Shiva. I hope that these pictures can do some justice to this incredible structure. Incidentally, I was surprised that more people outside of India haven’t visited (we were two of about 5 foreign tourists).

En route back to Aurangabad, we visited the formidible fort of Daulatabad, which is not only the most impressive fort I’ve seen (sorry Fort Henry!), but possesses one of the most interesting histories of any site we’ve visited. It was originally known as Deogiri, and was captured in the late 13th century by Muslim invaders from Delhi. It was annexed by Muhammad bin Tughluq in the early 14th century, who, in what has to be one of the most dramatic, baffling and stupid moves in Indian history, decided to make Daulatabad the capital and forced Delhi’s entire population to move 1,127km to their new home. Thousands of people starved and died of disease along the way, and when it was clear that the move was an utter failure (surprise!), the court moved back to Delhi. We climbed to the top of the fort – the most memorable part was the ‘dark passage’, which is completely unlit, slippery, wet and full of bats. I slipped and stepped in a puddle that I’m convinced was bat urine, but eventually we made it to the top.

A view of the fort

The fort’s walls and the city below

The following day, we headed for Ajanta. The Ajanta caves are actually older than Ellora (they were slowly abandoned as Ellora gained prominence), and heavily visited by Indian tourists (resulting in immediate stardom for Lindsay and I, who got to pose in about 20 solicited photographs, and probably 20 more unsolicited). Ajanta was a 100 km journey, so that meant a 2.5 hour journey on the baffling local bus system. Again, some very helpful Indians helped us navigate our way there and back. Along the way, we saw a number of oxen carts – the farmers paint the cows horns, and sometimes their bodies as well.

Like Ellora, the Ajanta caves are carved into an escarpment, overlooking a river gorge. These 30 Buddhist caves were left abandoned when Ellora rose in prominence and eventually the jungle grew over the caves, concealing their existence. They were forgotten until 1819, when John Smith, a Brit hunting tigers (as Brits did at the time), discovered the top of the facade of Cave 10 (there are 30 caves in total). While Ajanta lacks the overwhelming majesty of Ellora – the overall effect of the caves along the gorge is really striking, and the carvings are magnificent. In addition, excellent examples of early Buddhist painting are well preserved, showcasing stages of Buddhas life.

The next day we hired a driver to visit Mandu, a charming city on the top of a mountain in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. Mandu is referred to as ‘one of India’s most romantic and picturesque cities’ by one of our guidebooks (we have two – you need guidance here), and despite this, it doesn’t seem to be part of the regular tourist circuit. We figured out why after 10 hours on highways that looked like this:

Once you get going on the highways, they are actually quite fast – but there are enough tolls, cars going the wrong way, sheep, cows, oxen carts, train tracks and construction workers to ensure that you don’t really make an unreasonable amount of progress. On the plus side, you do get to drive through many small towns and meet kids like this one:

.. taste delectable sweets from stands like these:

And check out ads like this (I hope that one day I’ll be able to create a slogan that is half as awesome as this one)

We finally arrived in Mandu. Sadly, we didn’t realize that while the international community hasn’t discovered Mandu’s charms yet, the Indian community certainly has – we drove from hotel to hotel, and everything was booked. Everything, that is, except for one room at a temple complex for Hindu pilgrims in the center of town. This was to be our home for the night and it looked like this:

Sadly this is quite a flattering picture.

It was late, so we took a walk around town – along the way, we encountered some precocious young Indian kids who wanted their picture taken, and an impromptu Hindu festival:

We realized when we arrived at Mandu that it was more remote than we had originally thought, and that without a driver, we were going to have a hard time making our way to Rajastan, the next leg of our journey. So in the interest of sanity, we decided to keep our driver and continue on to Udaipur the following day. This gave us precisely two hours, between the hours of 7 and 9 a.m., to explore Mandu. Luckily, it was a beautiful time of day – the light was perfect, and there were very few tourists, so we got the sites to ourselves.

The view from Mandu

Rumpati’s pavillion

Baz Bahadur’s palace: Baz Bahadur was the last sultan of Malwa, defeated in a battle by the Mughals in 1561 (after this, Mandu fell into decline)

Hindol Mahal

Hindol Mahal

Champa Baodi