AURANGABAD VISIT

Location: Aurangabad, Maharashtra
Date of Visit: November 25-26, 2007
Other Places of Interest: Ajanta and Ellora caves, Jyotirlinga, Aurangzeb's Tomb, Panchakki, Bibi Ka Makhbara
Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/testingbeauty/

ARTICLES RELATED TO THE TOPIC ( AJANTA AND ELLORA)

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20071207505906600.htm

Magnificent, awesome are some of the overused expressions that I would refrain from using, as I feel that this would undermine the presence of such majestic structures at some corner of planet earth. Around the 2nd century B.C. at Ajanta and Ellora, great shrines and monasteries were carved out of the mountain which continued for almost 600 years. The magnificence of this place cannot been toned down by the cruel hands of history or the indifference of the lesser mortals towards it.

Every generation should have its own revolution and the generation of that era had a spiritual one. But whether the generations next is better, I think not....The generation X today is both confused and utterly demotivated even to leave a mark similar to what their ancestors had done.

Ajanta and Ellora caves are class apart from any other structures that stand today in the face of earth. Ajanta was though the only school of painting that existed in India at that time about two thousand years ago. Work on sculptors are abundant and could be found almost everywhere in India and also the world but such beautiful works of painting on walls do not have any other competitor in the world which sets it apart from any other structure standing on earth. But still it was lost from history for almost thousand years and found out accidentally by Britishers while they had gone out for hunting.

The paintings in Ajanta had used mineral colors that would prevail for centuries. Some of the colors were imported from far off lands like Iran and other places. Its amazing how developed the trade route was at that time and how importance did art had in the life of the people then. The world has changed today.

What amazed me in that place is not the beauty but the philosophy that went into it. Few days back I had read that Jain philosophers had actually proscribed what we know today as the theory of relativity or the concept of time and space. But something new also stuck me there. I had read that 3D images first came into the world stage after Renaissance, but this is wrong. There was a 3D image of a bull in the ceiling of one of the caves where it seems that its looking at you from wherever you see. How developed was the art of painting at that time who could develop such pictures cannot be imagined by the lesser mortals of today. In a cave in Ellora there is also a structure of human skeleton and so you can imagine.

A cave in Ellora is also worth describing. The cave altogether had a different design which seemed strange at the first sight. But the aura of that place was such that every sound made seemed beautiful. Its didn't took me much time to make out that the cave was specially made for meditation. The corners were cut at a different angle. We thought why not try to meditate. So we sat down in the center of the cave and pronounced OM.... the sound seemed so very soothing that I didn't feel like leaving that place. I never had such a soothing experience in my life before. Far away from the city chores there's a place where spirituality adheres a human face. Something great was there about the acoustics of the place that I would recommend various auditorium designers who still play with curtains and sound absorbing walls, should learn out of this design. The walls are of stone but no echo. Few days back I happened to visit Bose showroom in Bangalore but I would say if you play something inside this cave, it would some much better.

History tells us that these caves were built over a period of six hundred years and then mysteriously Ajanta was then lost for the next thousand years when the builders suddenly left the cave. It was later found out in the ninteenth century by some Britishers who went near the caves for hunting and accidentally found the caves.

Another interesting fact, when Buddhism came into existence, it was forbidden to make and worship human sculptors and so they worshipped plain stupas. But about 300 years after the death of Gautam Buddha another school emerged who stated to worship images of Buddha. Now the question that comes to my mind is , " How could the face of Gautam Buddha survive through the memories of the people for almost 300 years ?" .
In this context I remember a documentary in Discovery channel where they tried to make the probable face of Jesus based on the details of the structure of human faces of the people of that time and of Jerusalem. Then they came up with an all different image of Jesus which was quite different from that what we know.

Another interesting fact, the colors used in Ajanta caves came from Iran and other places. How can a place of such importance vanish from history without leaving any trace. How could one forget the only school of Art in India and famous all over the world. It makes me ask questions about how human memory works in the context of changes in cross cultural relationships.

Another fact, Ajanta caves were built along a gorge of a monsoon river. The gorge is horse shoe shaped and quite deep. Its seems quite impossible for a monsoon river to cut such a deep gorge. It seems a work of some cosmic or sesmic activities but human imagination and devotion made this place worth visiting, atleast once in a lifetime.

The geography of the place allowed building such massive cave structures. The work of the caves are amazing. The whole work was completed with the help of hammer and shovels. I wonder how motivated the people were who could do such tiresome jobs for the sake of art. When I look around here these days I could see lots of de-motivated youth, even in the best of firms, trying to pursue something thats so materialistic but lacks the soul. Think how neck breaking would it be to paint the ceilings. We happened to visit one unfinished cave on which work was going on when it was abandoned. The caves were cut in such a way that there were elevated sections that could assist the craftsman to do what seems unimaginable tome now. There were these men who worked in the most inhuman conditions to leave mark in the history in the name of religion but today we see people with luxury around just like to erase what's left of history. How important was religion for someone's existence.

Aurangabad was also the capital of Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb who happened to be the last mighty empire of the Mughal dynasty and his era was called the golden age of mordern India. There are many stories about Aurangzeb and his wrong doings ( whether they are true or not --- history has been erased). Many political parties strife to survive by abusing Auranzeb's acts. But for me some their arguments are badly flawed.But again who cares. There's a famous saying: " If you forget the history then you are condemned to relive it"... and something I fear is going to effect the nation in near future. I still get confused when they refer the age as the golden age in out history books --- on the terms of architectural and administrative levels.

The samadhi of Aurangzeb is in Aurangabad. He had wished to be buried near his spiritual guru. It was said that Aurangzed, though an emperor of whole of India, made his leaving by writing an selling Qurans. The samadhi is a real simple one made out of the 17 rupees that he had made by selling Qurans. Strange when one hears about atrocities and forceful religious conversions done by him.

When I visited the place there was an amazing feeling. A feeling that cannot be expressed through words.I have been to other samadhis like that of Tipu Sultan and his fathers and also of other kings but something was simple in this case. The way we were welcomed and shown these and so many other places were strange. The respect and love that one receives in such places makes me feel proud to be part of the culture which is so diverse and so beautiful. Where else can you find so many contrasting images in the same place. Well too difficult thing to grasp for a Westerner. But I doubt whether today a muslim will be treated the same way when he visits a Hindu shrine... I doubt that... things are changing these days and people are becoming more intolerant. Our culture is so rich and the muslim culture has a very important role to play in this. After all the religion flourished in India for many centuries and Urdu language belongs to this place.Still there are many people who would disagree with me and they influence the man of today.

Aurangabad is also the home of one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in India. Last few years I have been trying to follow up with the architecture of Hindu temples in different places in India and this one was also different than the others. I hope to visit the other 11 someday.I still do not know the importance of these jyotirlingas but will try to figure this out. Well another interesting thing ... in mos Shiv temples in the Deccan we had to go without shirt and with a low cut jeans and jockey I seemed doing more of modeling than visiting a religious place.

Aurangabad also hs Bibi Ka Makhbara - a samadhi of a mother built by his son. It has a beautiful mixture of Benagali and Mughal Architecture. It is also called the mini Tajmahal but the place misses the grandeur. Auranabad had also a panchakki( water wheel) which was about 300 years old and used for grinding grains. The water was brought from about 10 kms away from the city and that was a great technological advancement of that time.

In all Aurangabad city is worth seeing and a great experience