1 Day Guide To Visit Ellora Cave Temples In India

1-day visit to Ellora Cave Temples – our guide to one of the most extraordinary sites in India and how to get there!

Juan and I caught an early morning bus from Udaipur to a place called Ahmedabad, watching a rural India of cotton fields and sugar cane plantations pass by, en route to our next destination – the extraordinary Ellora Cave Temples.

Ahmedabad was a surprise, a modern university city on the banks of River Sabarmat in Gujarat State, Western India. A place with a turbulent history of civil unrest (the demonstrations that led to the overthrow of the British from India apparently began here) Ahmedabad is now a dynamic metropolis with a thriving textile industry.

We found an excellent restaurant with a cheap lunchtime menu of the day frequented by businessmen, a Moslem establishment which was more hygienic than the usual Indian ones. Hoping to see the historical quarter, I asked a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the city centre and ended up in a shopping centre…I must learn some words of Indian! The modern department store was brilliant though, the ground floor filled with Indian fashion and gorgeous silk saris.

The overnight bus to Aurangabad, the nearest city to Ellora, was due to depart around 5pm. We got to the coach offices on time and were transferred to the outskirts of town in a tuk-tuk which subsequently broke down…

A long wait with other passengers at the pickup point followed, as police patrols were stopping coaches from entering the busy city centre before 8pm. I drank some hot chai from a wayside stall and tried to forget my impatient ‘western mentality’! Our whole trip to India was based on sustainable travel.

Our hostel in Aurangabad was excellent and conveniently located by the train station with several eateries around. The city is a short drive from two of the most extraordinary sites in India, the Ellora and Ajanta Cave Temples located in the heart of Maharashtra State.

I assumed we’d need to book a chauffeur driven trip but a friendly driver took us to Ellora in his tuk-tuk quite cheaply, it’s only 30 kilometres away. He parked up and slept while we spent the day exploring the complex of historic caves. I’d seen this unique World Heritage Site on a TV programme, Joanna Lumley’s India, and it hit the top of my wish list.

Located in the Western Ghats, Ellora is an amazing valley where there a hundred 100 or more cave temples cut into cliffs in the hillside, although only 34 are currently open to visitors. The basalt rock has been cleverly sculpted into a succession of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples featuring monumental pillars and statues with intricate engravings.

Together with the famous Cave Churches in Lalibela (Ethiopia), the Ellora temples are considered to be the most outstanding examples of rock-cut architecture in the world.

The ticket booth and entrance to the site is by the middle section, the 7th and 8th century Hindu caves which are numbered 13 to 29. Cave 16 is a masterpiece, the extraordinary Kailasanatha Temple, a huge multi-level monument carved into the vertical cliff face.

It is an amazing experience to walk through the gateway and into the courtyard surrounded by towering cliff on three sides; it is lined with massive arched columns and detailed carved panels. A huge rock monolith and central temple dedicated to Lord Shriva are main focal points, as well as various smaller shrines on different levels and countless stone statues.

From here, walk southwards along the footpath to reach the Buddhist caves (12-1), created in the 6th and 7th centuries these monuments were used as temples, monasteries and places for pilgrims to rest. Although not as grand as famous cave 16, they are still impressive, especially number 10 which is a stupa prayer hall with a spectacular Buddha statue centerpiece.

Visitors can hop on an electric bus to get around or walk along to see the caves. Some are small and unfinished, others hide a multitude of unique statues and shrines… You can hire a guide but we preferred to discover the sites for ourselves in our own time.

Caves 30 to 34 are to the north, Jain temples built in the 9th and 10th centuries. It’s fascinating to see the mythical idols, dozens of statues depicting ancient gods and goddesses. Cave 32 is amazing, especially the second-floor ritual hall which has a giant lotus flower carved into the ceiling and a remarkable image of Ambika Devi, the Mother Goddess Ambika seated under a mango tree on a lion. Another temple is dedicated to River goddesses.

We spent most of the day walking around Ellora, and even then I didn’t see everything. The setting is surprisingly green and refreshing with a lake, running stream and waterfalls.

The Ajanta Caves are 100 km from Aurangabad; a complex of 29 Buddhist Temples hewn out of the cliff face, this site is renowned across the world for the remarkable rock paintings which date back to the 2nd century BC. Juan and I decided to move on that evening so we didn’t go; it would have been too much to take in maybe.

There was time for a quick shower at the hostel and some dinner, before getting aboard the overnight bus to Bombay, or Mumbai as it is now called. Hostels have always been accommodating, having kept our luggage and giving us somewhere to shower if we had a late check out, at no additional cost. They have also helped us reserve transport – later on in our travels I booked everything myself. This coach was once again comfortable although the sleeping compartment was bizarrely decked out in Arabian Nights style silk curtains!

NB. Aurangabad airport has direct flights to Delhi, Mumbai and Trivandrum so this is worth checking if you are planning to visit.

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Next stop on our around-the-world trip: Mumbai

2 Days in Mumbai: Top Places to Visit

A useful guide for a short visit, our 2 days in Mumbai itinerary highlights the best places to see and what to do in this vibrant city on India’s west coast.

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