Ajanta Ellora, Maharashtra

April 2012

1000 KMs over 4 days through Maharashtra

Mumbai to Devlali 180Km

Devlali to Ajanta caves 300Km

Ajanta to Aurangabad 100Km

Aurangabad to Ellora caves 50Km

Ellora caves to Devlali 200Km

Devlali to Mumbai 180Km

I drove my Honda Jazz which gave a pretty good mileage of 13-14km/l. Interestingly we did not see any other Jazz on the whole journey!The roads for more than 95% of the time were just fabulous and more in particularly in the i) Shahpur - Nasik and ii) Malegaon - Dhule stretches were awesome and you could easily drive at 120-140kmph but you at had to shell out Rs80 and Rs100 as toll! 

Most of the other roads were state highways where 100kmph was the maximum speed you could touch and in large stretches were just about enough for 2 cars to squeeze through. But they offered a real glimpse of the simple rural life. There was no toll on these roads and many times we were lonely on these roads.  We passed by caravans of bullock carts carrying usually sugarcane and also women and children. A few times we just had the setting sun and a vast expanse of clear landscape with nothing but small brown coloured mountains and short trees, something so simple yet rare to find in the concrete filled Mumbai.

It took us 5 1/2 hours of continuous driving barring a lunch break at a garden restaurant (Rs220) to reach Ajanta caves. We reached just in time at 4:15 to see the main caves which close at 5:30.

On this long journey we paid the highest toll for an effortless ride through a mountain pass. We passed through onion fields and even bought a 10KG sack for Rs50. A 20KG sack was available for Rs70! All of this was because we were unaware that the price of onions in Mumbai had fallen from Rs40 to Rs16/KG. On this route we also passed through fields growing cotton and trucks laden with the white and wooly stuff.

Ajanta:

At Ajanta parking cost Rs45 and it costs Rs20 for the 4Km bus ride and Rs25 for the entrance to the caves which are maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The caves (26 in all) are majestic and speak richly about the grandeur of the historic traditions of India.

The caretaker for each cave also serves a guide, though not so great but enough for the time we had.

The paintings are quite elaborate, though quite worn out at some places, they depict the life and times of Gautama Buddha.

More than the elaborate caves it is the nature of excavation and the sheer labour in the harsh terrain is a real wonder. You will also spot the langoor and its massive tail jumping all around!

It took us 2-1/2 hours to reach Aurangabad. We stayed at the Lemon Tree (Rs5400/night). Had buffet dinner (Rs600/head) and a nice long sleep.

We left for Ellora at 2 and the first thing we had to do was to full our tank which was completely drained. Interestingly 2 BPCL pumps we came across had no stock. Also the city pumps appeared to be more than busy with the biker and auto-rickshaws in queue who generally don't fill more than Rs50-100bucks of fuel. We ended up shelling out Rs2500 for a tank-full.

We reached Ellora by 330 after lunch at a garden restaurant (Rs560) we overestimated our appetite by a huge margin!

On the way to Ellora, you can't miss the Daulatabad Fort standing lonely atop a small hillock and the tomb of Aurangzeb, which we gave miss.

Ellora:

After paying for parking Rs20 and entrance of Rs20 we headed straight to the Jaina group of caves numbered 30-34. The guard at cave 32 for Rs100 was more than happy to show us around the caves.

The Jaina group of caves were the youngest and were carved out of solid rock. A lot of the statues were worn out and broken and hence not to be worshipped according to Jain tradition. A large number of statues were of Lord Mahavir, Parshvanath and surprisingly Bahubali. A few ceilings still had remains of paintings which once adorned the walls.

Cave 29 and 16 devoted to Shiva are simply stunning. The grandeur and and might of the Rashtrakuta kings is displayed in full glory.The gigantic size and scale of the Kailas temple, the largest monolithic rock structure in the world is breath-taking and was built by generations over 200 years!

We also visited a Jain Gurukul at Ellora and the Parshvanath temple in the premises and were happy to donate Rs2000 for a breakfast for 200 students studying there.

The journey from Ellora to Nasik had some of the breath-taking views of the beautiful setting sun and the dry parched brown landscape. The first stretch of the journey was slow as the roads were narrow and overtaking was also time consuming. However, our final leg was a narrow escape. We took the NH3 which allowed us to hit 120KMPh smoothly even at night. But just as the toll road ended (Rs40) several incomplete patches for a new toll road meant a lot of confusion and created a huge traffic jam and required a good deal of manoeuvring and Jugaad to get around. For a moment it reminded of a massive jam i'd read about in China that took 2 days to clear. We abandoned our plans to have dinner at Taj Nasik and settled for Swad - Veg Restaurant at Nasik Road (Rs190) to be home at Lamb Rd. Devlali, by 10.15. 

We had breakfast at Health Care Centre (HCC) at Lamb road (Rs197). We had rose water, bael juice, amla shot, veg sandwich, potato stuff sandwich, bread-butter and moong chaat. HCC has been in operation ever since I've known Deolali and serves the best fruit juices and sandwiches in the area and has an exotic variety. The journey back home which started at 11.45 was over at 2.20. All thanks to the toll roads which have cut the journey time by more than an hour.

All through our journey we had google maps by our side giving directions and also giving choices of routes to choose from.