The Ajanta Caves is a complex of 31 Buddhist Caves, it includes
well preserved paintings dating back to 1500 years and is a
recognized world heritage for its murals and sculptural
masterpieces. All the Caves are Rock Cut in Nature, with their
antiquity going back to 2000 years. Some of the important Caves
to see at Ajanta are Cave no. 1, 2, 9, 10, 16, 17, 19 & 26. It takes
around half a day to Explore all the Caves in detail. After exploring
the Caves, we had a late lunch and headed back to Sambhaji
Nagar (Aurangabad). From there, we headed towards Verul which
is around 25 km. We planned for an overnight stay in Verul, the
nearest place from Grishneshwar Temple & Ellora Caves.The next day, we woke up early in the
morning and visited Ghrishneshwar
Jyotirlinga at 5 AM. We had a peaceful
darshan of Lord Shiva, as Ghrishneshwar
Jyotirlinga is the 12th Jyotirlinga. We also
experienced the morning aarti in the temple,
where it's a tradition for men not to wear any
clothes on the upper part during darshan of
the main Shivalinga.
Later, we went to Ellora Caves, which feature
Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain caves. The major attraction
of Ellora Caves is the Kailasa Temple, carved out of a
single rock, making it the world's largest monolithic cut
structure. Unlike typical rock-cut architectures that are
carved from bottom to top, Kailasa Temple is carved
from top to bottom and features carvings depicting
stories from the Mahabharata & Ramayana. You can
even see a picture of Ellora Caves on the new 20 Rs
note, with the Kailasa Temple prominently featured.
Exploring Kailasa Temple alone can take at least an
hour due to its intricate details. Afterward, there are
other Hindu and Jain Caves in the Ellora Caves
Complex. Visitors can also opt for battery cars instead
of walking to explore the caves.