Aurangabad Caves
The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta stand witness to masterpieces of Buddhist religious art in India. However there are many other richly decorated caves that also tell us the story of a glorious past. The Aurangabad caves, tucked between the Satara and the Sihyachal hills in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra is one brilliant example of this. The Aurangabad caves are located close to the famed mausoleum Bibi ka Maqbara. These are clusters of rock-cut grottos turned into monuments. Thousands of tourists visit the Aurangabad caves. There are many researchers and students of Indian archaeology who visit the caves too.
Make no mistake here. The Aurangabad caves are not the Ajanta and Ellora caves. Some people believe that they are the same, because the Ajanta and Ellora are located close to Aurangabad. Some scholars believe that the Aurangabad caves are the link between Ajanta and Ellora. But this has not yet been established.
Cave 2 which resembles a square shaped shrine contains a gargantuan image of Lord Buddha in the traditional sitting pose, while cave 3 is decidedly the largest in size and dimension. It also boasts of a spacious corridor adorned by a mammoth monastery mirroring the interiors of Ajanta caves in terms of architecture and symmetry. Akin to the stone carvings found in Ajanta that depict the Sutasoma Jataka stories in vivid detail, you cannot miss these here too. Cave 7 contains the most elaborate carvings of Buddhist preachers and Gurus that include Bodhisatva Padmapani as the great savior of Eight Human Perils such as Fire, Demon, Theft, Elephant, Lion, Shipwreck, Snake and Monkey.
How to reach: Thousands of domestic and international tourists come to Aurangabad (most of them visit the Ajanta and Ellora caves though). With so many visitors, Aurangabad today has an airport and railway station. You can hire a private taxi from the airport or the railway station to visit the caves.
There are many hotels in Aurangabad caves, resorts in Aurangabad caves, and home stays in Aurangabad caves. There are budget as well as premium properties.
