Next day i.e. on 26th, we started very early (4:30 in the morning), to catch the earliest bus to Ajanta (Ajintha to the locals). We got the 5:15 bus to Jalgaon. The morning breeze was coming through the window which soon became a cold current which became quite intolerable. But alas, the window had only one pane and it was insufficient to negate the current. The route from Aurangabad to Sillod is dotted with hills on both sides of the road. The sceneries compounded with the cool breeze had its effect and yours truly slept immediately.
The driver got late in Sillod and hence he decided to make it up. From Sillod to Ajinthagaon, he drove as if he was Schumacher. We made to Ajintha in good time. The caves are actually at the foothills. But before that the bus had to go through a ghat which was quite long and have lots of turns. Seeing the ghat, I was afraid that we will certainly meet with an accident given our drivers penchant for speed. But he surprised by immediately transforming himself from Dhoni to Dravid and guided us through every caution he had in his books.
By 7:15, we were in the MTDC reception centre of Ajanta Caves. We were informed that, the caves will open at 9:00 AM and the only means to reach there are the buses plied by MTDC which will cover the 4 Kms to them. So, we started at about quarter to nine for the caves. The road to the caves is laden with scenic beauty which would have been more green and watery if we would have come after the rains.
After securing the tickets, we set out for the caves. Unlike Ellora, here all the 29 caves are in a horseshoe shaped half a Km stretch. Below is the river which unfortunately was dry. The whole area is surrounded by green hills which would become greener after the rains. The hills are dotted with marks from the Waterfalls. There are several of them but alas nothing could be done in April. We plan to visit Ajanta at least for the waterfalls.
In Ajanta, almost half the caves are unfinished. But the finished ones are specimens of the art and sculpture of greatest expertise. The caves here date back to 2nd century BC. Both Hinayana and Mahayana form of Buddhism are well represented in the caves.
The first two caves are important as they have coloured wall paintings. Even the roofs are well painted. Every Mahayana cave has a garbhagriha(sanctum) in which Buddha is seated in different forms. The walls around the sanctum are surrounded by sculptures generally yakshas and rest is covered in paintings. If looking from front, on the left of the sanctum in cave 1 is the world famous painting of Padmapani and on the right is Vajrapani. The Buddha in both the caves is in Dharmacakrapravartana mudra (preaching attitude). The wall paintings are all different Jataka Tales. You can get only mesmerized seeing the paintings and do nothing but appreciate the art.
Cave 10 is an important cave as this was the cave whose huge arch was observed by a British officer, John Smith in the April of 1819. This led to the discovery of all the caves. Cave 17 is the cave in which the paintings are most preserved. You can make out human faces in the paintings. Traces of the huge wheel of life adorn the wall outside the cave.
Cave 26 is the most preserved cave of the lot. It has huge sculptures and the pradikshana around the rock-cut stupa with an image of Buddha in the front has wall carvings depicting different times of Buddha’s life. The pradakshina culminates with the most striking and prominent image of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana on the right wall.
We were totally exhausted after our 3 hour voyage through the mesmerizing beauty and grandeur of the works of our skilled ancestors. Add to that the blazing Sun, we were in need of food and rest. We had already decided that we would make full use of our pass and get back to Pune through a roundabout route.
We first started for Jalgaon at about one in the afternoon and reached at about quarter past two. We had the cheapest and heaviest meal for thirty bucks there and started for Nashik. Nashik was some 250 Kms and about five to six hours away. I slept for the first two hours of my trip till Dhule. In Dhule, our bus conductor advised us to go in the next bus as it would skip Malegaon and we could reach about an hour early. But one of our primary reasons in boarding the bus was that we wanted to see the famed town of Malegaon. From Dhule to Malegaon, we again had a ghat section which was under construction and this reduced our speed to a nice extent. We were getting delayed but that was of no concern to us. We were just exploiting the riches of our long adventurous journey. Again in between Malegaon and Nashik, we had a ghat section which was equally beautiful in the fading Sunlight. On the curves two signboards caught my attention. One was, ‘BE SMOOTH ON MY CURVES’ and the other ‘JHOPLA KI SAMPLA’ (if you sleep you are finished). We reached Nashik at about half past nine after a six-hour journey.
We had our dinner and then started for Pune. We were told that we couldn’t board the asiad as our pass didn’t cover a conductor-less bus. So we had to settle for the Parivartan bus. The asiad’s driver had given an estimate of about 5 hours to Pune. The Parivartan bus’s driver just said that whenever we start we will reach Pune at 3 in the morning!!! So, we left at about quarter to eleven and reached Pune exactly 4 hours later. I just encountered his turbulent driving after reaching Pune. Barrel told me that he hadn’t spared the ghats en-route as well!!! We reached back to the hostel at about half past three and I slept within an hour.
I was feeling sad that such a trip had ended. Well every good beginning has an ending and the end was pleasant and soothing. The memories of the grandeur that I had seen in these two days will stay forever alive till I reach the final destination!!! Well now this has led to an addiction and my mind has started already wandering and exploring other beautiful and mesmerizing places spread throughout this great country of ours!!!
A final salute to all those sculptors and artists who worked day in and day out to make these magnanimous forms of artwork to see the light of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment