I had seen a slew of pictures of the splendid images of the Ajanta caves. But a real life vision was what I desired most. After visiting the pilgrimage sites in northern and central India, I travelled westwards to Aurangabad, in the state of Maharashtra, which is home to these world famous caves. The caves are only 100 kms away from there.

Its simply amazing! The caves are cut from the volcanic lava in the forest ravines of the Sahyadri Hills. I was wonderstruck at the unique blend of architecture, sculpture and paintings. I found that two basic types of monastic Buddhist architecture are preserved at Ajanta- the Chaitya or prayer hall (Cave Nos. 9,10,19,26 & 29) and Vihara or monastery (remaining 25 Caves).

To my delight, these caves suggest a well defined form of architecture which broadly resolves into two phases with a time gap of about 4 Centuries from each other. The Hinayana Phase include two Chaitya Halls (Cave Nos. 9&10) and 4 Viharas (Cave Nos. 8, 12, 13 & 15A) while the Mahayana Phase has 3 Chaityas (Cave nos. 19 & 26 and 29 being incomplete) and 11 exquisite Viharas (Cave Nos. 1,2,4,6,7,11,15,17 and 20 to 24).

The Mahayana Phase seems to establish a formal religious imagery. The Hinayana monuments at the site are virtually devoid of carvings. Cave l, is one of the finest monasteries and the interior paintings here, are among the greatest at Ajanta. Bodhisatvas namely Padmapani and Vajrapani flank the antechamber doorway with immense grace.

Most of the caves are replete with paintings depicting events from the life of Lord Buddha as well as tales from the Jataka. I could only marvel at these exquisite and impeccable paintings - human hands are capable of such artistry!

My trip to Ajanta was more than a lifetime experience. Never have I seen such magnificient objects of ancient art.