Ajanta Ellora
These are the pictures of three sites near Aurangabad - Daulatabad Fort, the cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora. The story of the fort in Daulatabad is full of wars, deceit and sheer stupidity. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq wanted to move his capital from Delhi to a more centrally located place and founded Daulatabad. The place was arid, his soldiers revolted and he went back. The Vijaynagar empire managed to build an outpost here with a huge temple. The Delhi kings did not like this and attacked the fort. Repeated attacks motivated the sitting kings to develop an elaborate system to defend the fort.
Ajanta has cave temples ranging from the second century BC to the seventh century AD. The Buddhist monks carved these temples in a canyon whose sheer basaltic walls gave them a lot of solid rock to work with. The scale of the operation is to be seen to be believed. Ajanta is famous for its paintings and some of the old paintings have been restored and give an idea of what a glorious place it might have been in its peak.
Ellora is a newer cave temple complex, built much in the same spirit as Ajanta. The temples are devoted to Buddhist, Jain and Hindu gods. There are some enormous temples and dormitories in Ellora - all carved out of hill-sides.
Dark caves and a ban on flash and tripods makes it very challenging to make photographic images in these temples. The pictures were shot on Kodak 400UC film and scanned.
Read MoreAjanta has cave temples ranging from the second century BC to the seventh century AD. The Buddhist monks carved these temples in a canyon whose sheer basaltic walls gave them a lot of solid rock to work with. The scale of the operation is to be seen to be believed. Ajanta is famous for its paintings and some of the old paintings have been restored and give an idea of what a glorious place it might have been in its peak.
Ellora is a newer cave temple complex, built much in the same spirit as Ajanta. The temples are devoted to Buddhist, Jain and Hindu gods. There are some enormous temples and dormitories in Ellora - all carved out of hill-sides.
Dark caves and a ban on flash and tripods makes it very challenging to make photographic images in these temples. The pictures were shot on Kodak 400UC film and scanned.
