Caves in Maharashtra Visit

Almost all these caves are very old which are formed in first century. These caves are considered to be one of the 7 wonders of India. The architectural painting and sculptures represent the heritage of India and also these caves depict the life style and story about Buddhism and about Buddha.

Ajanta cave in Maharashtra

Ajanta cave is one of the famous caves in Maharashtra which is located in Aurangabad district and it is 40 kms from Jalcon city. The sculptures and architecture of the Ajanta cave express the Buddhist way of living and it depicts the Jataka tales in a beautiful way. The paintings will be seen in almost all the places and also in some places on the floor. There are two caves on a broad category. In the cave-2 it is having beautiful painting which is depicting the life of Buddhist. Since proper protection and maintenance is provided the cave-2 is now maintained fairly in the proper position with all kinds of supporting pillars at the ends. And it was predicted that this cave was built for around 300 years in two phases. In the first phase cave-I was built and in the other phase cave-II was built. To start with caves are numbered from 1 to 29 for identification purpose. In the ancient days all these caves are disconnected but now government had taken steps to provide a path way for each cave and are connected to each other. And each of these caves represent a different story like cave -1 will share the importance of Buddhism and the life of Buddha and cave 4 which is largest of all the cave and cave 8 is called as Theravada cave. Recently in 1983 seeing the sculptures and painting for Ajanta cave it was taken over by UNESCO and they are in charge of the maintenance of the cave.
Ajanta caves

Ellora cave in Maharashtra

Ellora cave is also located somewhere 30 kms near Aurangabad district which is located in Maharashtra. Ellora is a Marathi word derived from Elluru and these caves depict the Indian architecture of rock cutting. And this Ellora is having almost 34 caves. This cave depicts the life of Hindu, Buddhism, Jainism etc and all the sculptures are carved in the stones depicts the stone cutting architecture of India and it was mentioned that these caves are built from 5th to 10th century. Cave 20,21,26 etc depicts the life of Hindus and seems to be oldest of all the cave and also the carving includes viharas which is also called as monasteries which means multi-storey caves which includes living room, sleeping room, kitchen , dining room and all the architecture looks like mountain. Cave -1 is vishvakarma where it has Buddha statue with large Bothi tree at the back. Cave -16 is called as Kailasanatha which depicts the life of shiva and parvathi in kailasam. Geological department found many inscriptions in the Ellora cave and still there is research going on for this to know more information about the inscriptions.
Ellora caves

Elephanta caves in Maharashtra

From the gate way of India and 9 -10 miles apart there lies the Elephanta caves. Since these caves are located in Island, these caves can by reached by aeroplane from Arabian sea. This cave is also called as Gharapuri. And this cave is called as Elephanta caves because there will be a huge elephant at the entrance of the cave which is carved in a single stone and seeing this the name was given by Portuguese. There are two caves here on a broad category. The first cave is having around 5 caves which depict the life of Hindus and this the biggest cave and the second cave is relatively smaller cave which is having 2 caves which depicts the life of Buddha's. On Monday this cave is closed. Even this cave is renovated again by UNESCO in 1970 to preserve the sculptures and architecture of Indian heritage. Story about mahabharatha , pandavas , lord shiva and kailasam etc.

Aurngabad caves in Maharashtra

Aurangabad caves, is located in hill top which is heading from east to west and it runs for 2 kms in Aurangabad district which is counted as part of continuation to Ellora caves. In 6th to 7th century, these caves are carved out of soft a stone which depicts the life of Buddhist. And it was told like there are around 12 rocks are fully carved with Buddha statue. Though this cave belongs to ages of Ajanta and Ellora caves, but since the carving is done on a soft rock so many places and sculptures got damaged. So it is undertaken by UNESCO for renovation and also archaeological department is conducting research on these rocks, regarding the type of stone, and the inscriptions written on the rocks. There are 3 caves in Aurangabad where the last cave depicts the Ajanta and Ellora cave and the carvings will be a treat to the eyes for the visitor because the architectural carving of the sculptures includes geometric design, shapes, flowers, portrayal of the couples and their life style and all these carving meet the perfection.
Aurangabad caves

Karla caves in Maharashtra

Karla caves are very much known for its sculptures in the roof top, the shrine on the top looks amazing. And the architectural design on the top attracts the visitors more when compared to Ajanta and Ellora caves and it is estimated that these caves are built in second century which depicts the life of Bhuddha's. These caves are located in Karli which is near to Lonavala falls. This cave is having a large prayer hall with architectural shrines on the top and sculptures aside the hall are carved with the single stone which is more than 45 metres long with 45 feet height that attracts the tourists. To preserve the sculptures and architecture, this cave was under taken by archaeological department.
kARLI CAVE

Bhaja caves in Maharashtra

Karla caves and the Bhaja caves are located next to each other in Lonavala district. One of the attractive monument in India which is having entrance that look like horse shoe entrance and it has four caves on the whole with large shrine on the roof. This cave also belongs to the age of Ajanta and Ellora caves which was built in 1st century. And this cave depicts the Indian mythology and Hinduism and few other caves depict life of Buddha. And this cave also built with the feature of waterfall in which the water falls into the small pool inside the cave. Biggest stupas, horse shoe entrance, sculptures aside, large shrines at the top acts as a elegant features of the caves.
Bhaji caves

In a nut shell, all the caves are very much architectural and will serve as a treat to the eyes of the visitors and tourists. Almost all the caves express the ancient heritage, Buddhism and Hinduism So the people can visit once to Maharashtra to view all the caves and to enjoy the essence.

Caves in Maharashtra