Being a painter, I captured many landscaped, human faces & figures in my colors. But soon I felt that I should paint something that has been created thousand of years ago. Something that is immemorial........

Exploring the Site!
So I searched the net for World Heritage Sites. Out of all, I got attracted to Ajanta and Ellora, the caves that lies quietly in Aurangabad, Maharashatra, India. What excited me about the caves were there artistic legacy. I wanted to see the paintings and the sculptures that were created long time.....in fact centuries ago.

“ What ! you are going to India?” asked my best friend, Carol. “ Yeah, and please don't ask me to stop because this is one site that I really want to paint.....paint on my canvas as well as my heart” I replied.

Three Days later !!
And here I was at Chattarapati Shivaji airport, Sahar. Since I knew where I had to go a took a cab from the airport to Aurangabad. There out of many choices, I resorted to Taj Residency. After refreshing myself, I landed in the MTDC ( Maharashatra Tourist Development Corporation Ltd) office and enrolled for myself to the Ajanta tour. The tourist officer charged me Rs 150 and asked me to come near the MTDC holiday resort to catch the bus. He also told me that the tour would have an English speaking guide that would provide us information about the site.

It took us 2 hrs to reach the Ajanta caves as they are 107 km north east of Aurangabad. Our guide, Ankur, told us that these caves were built in 2nd Century B.C and 8th Century A.D. We were also given brochures that provided us on hand information about the site. But nobody was interested in reading them as the guide narrated the whole thing in a more interesting way.. than the words in black and white.

He also told me that these sites remained hidden for many centuries and was finally excavated in 1819 by a group of Bristish Army officer.

Beauty Of Beauty!!!
Marvelous! The sculptures are beautiful, I thought. The sculptures and the paintings depicted life history of Buddha's life. Well, no doubt they are the master piece....if only I could paint half what they actually are.... I think I will achieve something..... as my mind continued to loiter looking at the marvel.

I got lured by the paintings that depicted the Jakarta tales illustrating the diverse stories realting to the previous incarnation.

Filled with emotion and memories of Ajanta, I returned to my resort. That night I knew what I had to the next day..... to explore the Ellora caves.

Next day I took a cab to the Ellora caves... I wanted to be alone to see the nuances of each sculptures that could help me to recreate the magic on canvas. It just took as 45 minutes to reach the place as it is 26 km North from the Aurangabad.

As soon I entered the vicinity of the Caves, I was surrounded by number of guides. I chose one of them that told me that these monuments spans over a period of about three hundred and 50 years from 6th to the 12th Century A.D.

The magic of Ellora caves were such that they could withold any kind of tourists. The guide told me that the sculpture compostioned they embellished were among the finest example of the Chalukas, Kalachuri and Rashtrakuta periods. I saw all the 34 caves that were clearly demaecated into 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindus and 5 Jain sites. Weel as I entered the Ellora caves, I found myself visiting the dreamland of Indian devotional ethos.