Next it was off to Ellora. We got a driver again (same car, different driver) for the day. It was nice having him for the day because we had to check out of our hotel before we left and were able to keep our bags in the car this time (if we wanted to have them at the hotel, they were going to charge us for another half a day). Plus, we could do other things. We didn’t know how much time we would want to spend there and our train wasn’t until 11:30 pm so we had a lot of time to kill.
Our driver was hilarious. He didn’t speak very much English but that didn’t stop him from talking. He told us he has five children, two boys and three girls, and taught Jason the Hindi words for right and left. It was tricky when we had to deviate from the prescribed route. At one point, we called Grace and asked her to tell him where we wanted him to take us. He laughed when Jason rubbed the car in sympathy after a bad bump in the road and at the end of the day, they were friends. It was funny to watch from the back seat.
Ellora is a lot closer (about 30 km) but the roads aren’t as good and the driver was more cautious so it took about an hour to get there. These caves are also a World Heritage Site and were carved from AD 600-1000. There are 34 caves spanning 2 km and divided into three different kinds: Buddhist, Hindu and Jain. These ones were never lost so the painting is almost entirely gone. There are a couple of places where you can see some color but mostly you see the carvings. These ones you can drive up to which was nice although that also means the people selling things were all over while at Ajanta, they were just where you park your car and catch the bus.
The largest and most impressive “cave” is one of the Hindu ones. It’s more like a temple that was carved out of the mountain top to bottom. It’s symbolically shaped like a chariot riding on the backs of elephants and is a representation of Lord Shiva’s home in the Himalayas. It’s huge and beautifully carved with carved panels behind columns along the outside wall. To make it, they had to remove 200,000 tons of rock and it’s twice the area of the Parthenon and 1.5 times as high! We were even able to climb the hill next to it so we could see the decorations on the top. Unfortunately, after this, our camera ran out of battery power. We did get some good pictures of this one though.
Next we went to see the Buddhist caves. They were a lot like the ones at Ajanta. We saw some more Hindu caves and then the Jain ones. We thought it was interesting that they would build so many caves with basically the same things in them. The Buddhist ones we could understand because one was a temple and the other ones were monasteries but the Hindu ones all seemed to be to the same gods and told the same stories. Not that they weren’t cool, just a little redundant. The Jain caves were more intricately carved but still similar.
After lunch and leaving our guide, we went back to a few more of the Hindu caves. One in particular was huge with entrances on three sides and a path going behind a waterfall. At this point, Anna was sleeping so we left her in the car with the driver while we explored. It felt strange not having her, like we were getting away with something. I was kind of glad she wasn’t there though because the stairs to the waterfall path were really steep and slippery from the rain (it rained several times that day) and I don’t think I would have felt really comfortable if she was strapped to my front. As it was, she had a good nap and I saw a beautiful waterfall and surrounding area. Win win.
At this point, it was still pretty early. We stopped off at a himroo factory (a kind of weaving that the area is well known for) and bought Grace a scarf as a thank-you for everything she has done for us. Then we visited a tomb where the last Moghal emperor is buried. We thought about seeing a hilltop fortress but our guide book said it would take 45 minutes to get to the top and it was getting a little on the late side and we were too tired to want to go. We did get a picture of it from the road on the way up to the Ellora caves though. We also stopped at a place referred to as a mini Taj Mahal. It too is a mausoleum for a man’s wife and is white with four towers, a dome in the middle and a mosque to one side. Again Anna was sleeping in the car (it was a day of cat naps) so we left her again to explore. It was quite lovely and it was nice to have the place practically to ourselves as we walked around and discussed the differences between it and the Taj Mahal (to which it is often compared). It was surprisingly chilly and started to rain as we were heading back to the car so we decided not to see the last sight the driver took us to which is a water wheel.
By now it was late and we were tired. We weren’t looking forward to spending the evening in the train station after dinner and were planning on taking as long as possible eating (which may have proved tricky because Anna is getting increasingly antsy in restaurants). Fortunately, we didn’t have to. When the driver called the hotel for assistance in understanding what restaurant we wanted to go to they said we could have a room for a couple of hours at no cost so we could relax before our train. We were so excited. We ate fast and went back to the hotel where Jason napped and I put Anna to sleep in her car seat while we waited for the train.
The final leg home was uneventful. Mostly waiting around to get on trains and then waiting around on trains. But safe and sound home in Ahmedabad again, at least for a day before it is off to London.
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