Buddhist Cave Temples
We didn't roll back over at 6am this morning. It was misting and rainfall looked evident so the proprietor loaned me his umbrella. We left the hotel at 6:40 via auto-rickshaw and where at the bus station within minutes. I paid the driver 15 rupees ($0.30) and no more per Chhatrasen's instruction. The grubby bus station was a bit intimidating as all the signs were in Hindi with no English to be found. I inquired at centrally located kiosk as to which bus was going to Ajunta.
The brown uniformed man behind the hazy glass gestured toward slip number seven where an elderly white heavily loaded bus appeared to ready to move out. It was only a quarter until seven by my watch and Chhatrasen had expressly told me that the bus left at seven. I observed the press of humanity inside the bus that seemed ready to burst through the rusty confines with high hopes that it was not our transport.
The old engine revved. A few men who had been loitering in the mud outside leapt on board and crowded in the door as the bus lurched forward. We watched the bus round the corner of the station and disappear.
“I don't think that was our bus,” I said. My confidence rose in observing several people still milling about the now empty slip. As the hour of seven o'clock crept past Jean went back to the kiosk and confirmed that the bus going to Ajunta was arriving a bay number seven at seven. So we waited some more. At fifteen minutes past the hour another white bus appeared at the far end of the station. It's approach sent the the now swollen crowd at slip seven into frenzy. They converged on the ponderous beast as it sloshed through the muddle puddles. The creature cut a vee through the encircling crowd. Meanwhile, the members of the aforementioned assemblage were pulling themselves up the sides of the bus and tossing articles of clothing and bags through the open windows.
Taking the queue I thrust my borrowed umbrella through a window in the rear of the bus hopefully reserving a seat for Jean and myself. The bus rumbled to a stop. With a screech of grinding gears it shifted into reverse and lumbered into the concrete slip. As it settled to a stop a mob formed around the door. Jean and I joined the melee. My wife was much more successful in pushing forward than me. In India, there's an unwritten rule that women can cut into the front of any queue/line/mob. Jean would soon learn to more fully exercise this privilege.
When I finally pushed my way on the the bus I found her with my seats. Apparently, the claim with my borrowed umbrella had held. The bus filled up though everyone had a seat. The engine started and we were off chugging through the muggy early morning air. We saw several children in what we appeared to be school uniform. Upon later inquiry we found out that schools in India are typically out in April and May when the the weather gets really hot.
A brown uniformed came up to us with a device about the size of pencil box and asked us our destination. We told him Ajunta and nodded and gave us a receipt for 100 rupees. I gave him the fare and marveled at how the two of us could make a 35 mile trip for around $2. The bus stopped periodically to pick up passengers and soon the aisle was teeming with people.
We were traveling down a narrow paved, two lane road passing through fields and small towns. After a little more than an hour the bus ground to stop and the brown uniformed man signaled to us that this was our stop.
Stepping off the bus at the T junction we were set upon by several vendors. A mustachioed man with red stained teeth introduced himself as Eric, presented me with a chunk of amethyst and escorted me to the ticket booth were I paid the 14 rupee facilities fee and to open air mall full of stands hawking all manner of souvenirs. Jean had been accosted by another vendor. We sat the mall and ate a breakfast of Samosas as they hovered about. As we finished the last crumb, Eric pounced and insisted we take a look at his shop as they caves wouldn't be open for another half an hour.
We acceded and followed him to his booth were he had several nice figurines of buddhas and elephants and the like carved from onyx. There was more amethyst and as it was all very nice but as we would be traveling for a while Jean and I didn't entertain the notion of lugging around a piece of rock with me. We conveyed this to Eric many, many times.
Finally, we broke free, dodged Jean's vendor and fled for the bus that would take us the 4km or so to the caves. Soon we were off lumbering up the winding road. Jungle grew up on either side of the road. Looking out the window I saw two monkeys playing on the top of an abandoned shed and the realization finally set in that I was in a country very much unlike one I had ever been to.
We disembarked fifteen minutes later and were glad that the area was remarkably devoid of hawkers. We purchased tickets for the caves. Interesting side note here. For most major sites in India there are two prices posted, an Indian price and a foreigner price. Usually the latter is ten times or so that of the former. At the Ajunta caves we paid 250 rupees a ticket were an Indian national was 20 rupees. 250 rupees is about the equivalent of $5.50 so it's not unreasonable but startling evidence of the widely differing economic scale developed countries like the US and UK exist on compared to India.
We climbed up several flights of stone steps and found ourselves at the edge of a horse shoe shaped canyon rising over a slow green Waghore river snaking through dense jungle foliage. Cut into the dark gray sheer rock face circling around the canyon were entrances marked with columns and statues carved out of stone.
As entrance to most of the caves required the removal of footwear Jean and I chucked ours shoes in my bag and went barefoot. There are thirty caves in all at Ajunta but only about twenty or so open to the public. That was plenty to keep us occupied until early afternoon.
The caves were constructed during the span of eight hundred years starting in the second century B.C. At the end of the seventh century Buddhism began to decline and around this time the caves were probably abandoned. Wilderness reclaimed the area and it wasn't until 1819 that a British hunting party stumbled upon the site.
The caves had two general layouts. The most common were vihars. These housed the living quarters of the monks. They generally consisted of a large squarish room with several adjoining cubicles. These were the monks living quarters. The cubicles were rough-hewn, dank, with a low ceiling and lacked air flow. Must have sweaty being a monk. Another room holding a statue of Buddha led off from the main room. Though none exist today a stairway carved out of the rock probably led from each vihar down the 200 feet or so to the river.
Chaitya-Halls were the other type of caves. These were used assembly and prayer halls. They usually had loftier ceilings, colonnades, various statues and generally more finished. These were assembly halls where the monks assembled (go figure) and prayed.
The entire site was in amazing shape for being 1400 to 2200 years old. This is due largely to the isolated area where the complex was located. I've uploaded several pictures and commentary on Facebook. You can reach the album through the following link
Buddhist Cave Temple
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