The Artistic Caves of Ajanta and Illora in the State of Maharashtra in India

There are many artistic ancient places in India, which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. The foreigners are particularly interested in such places as they are more interested in such artistic places. The caves of Ajanta and Illora in the State of Maharashtra in India are such ancient and artistic specimens pertaining to Buddhism and Jainism. Lot of tourists keeps on visiting these caves to enjoy the pictures of the ancient times in these caves.

One can easily reach these caves by getting down at Aurangabad railway station via Manmad on Tapti Valley railway line from Surat to Bhusaval. These caves can also be reached easily by the hired car or taxi from Mumbai or Poona. Such taxis charge around Rs.2000 ($50) for the round trip to these caves from Poona. Illora caves are around 18 miles away from Aurangabad station. Lots of taxis are available from Aurangabad at the rate of Rs.300 for the round trip. The caves of Illora are based on three religions, namely Buddha, Jains, and the Brahmins. There are in all 34 caves at Illora. The caves from 1 to 12 are of Buddha religion, caves from 13 to 29 of Brahmin religion, and the last five caves from 30 to 34 are pertaining to Jain religion. All these caves are full of the life stories of the Lord Buddha and the various tirthankars of Jain religion. These caves of Illora are said to be made before around 1200 years. In spite of these many years, the colors of all the pictures have remained intact. The present day artists are really surprised on this count and are still not able to find out the exact constituents of the colors used to make these pictures. It takes around one full day to view all the caves in details. You certainly shall need to hire a guide services to see all these caves. The guide charges are Rs.100 ($2.5) per day of around eight hours. These guides are approved by the Government and have been issued with the specific badges.