30 km north to northwest of the city of Orangabad in India there is a cave called ” Ellora” located near the village of Ellora. You must know that this cave is not like other caves; Because it is not made naturally and man has intervened in its construction. Followers of religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jain made it between the sixth and tenth centuries AD.
In this historic city, there are caves of different religions, of which 5 caves belong to the followers of Jain religion, 12 caves belong to Buddhists and 17 caves belong to the followers of Hinduism. One of the signs of harmony between the different religions at that time is that these groups built their structures at the same time and to a large extent, close to each other.
These caves were built by their builders between the surfaces of Charanandari hills cut from basaltic volcanic rocks. The construction of temples and monasteries was done by scraping the walls of basalt rocks. The construction of this building took about 250 years, ie it started around 500 AD and was completed in 750 AD. The work of carving the stones of this cave was done in the years 600 to 870 AD, while the construction of these caves continued until 1000 AD. A total of 34 caves are numbered here in order of construction. The oldest Buddhist cave is located in the southernmost part of the region, and the numbering also starts from this cave.
Buddhist caves are the first structures to be built, all of which were used for work such as sleeping, meditating and eating, except for the tenth cave. The dimensions of these caves moved to the north and expanded as they advanced; For example, cave number one is very simple, with only a few decorations and eight cells, while the eleventh cave is much wider and has several floors and a very large and magnificent hall. In the 21st cave, you can see that there are three stepped paths, as if two lion statues protect the cave, and in this cave, you can see beautiful plaster casts. As soon as you enter the shrine, you will see walls with five Buddha statues that symbolize Buddhas on earth. Of course, there are also statues of seven other Buddhas.
There are more Buddhist caves than other religions, so they are simpler than other caves, and this shows that Buddhism was more important at that time, and many people believed in this religion.
You may think that this building is in a remote and inaccessible place, but this is not the case at all, and this valuable work is located on the route of a historical trade route in South Asia, which shows that there was a lot of traffic to this area so it had become very important. It is interesting to know that sales are still done in this place.
The authorities of this tourist country are very diligent in maintaining this building and have never neglected to allocate funds for the renovation of this place.
If you want to travel to India, November to March is the best time to travel to India, where the weather is cooler and better than other months. You can visit these caves every day of the week except Tuesdays. Because this place has different working hours in different seasons, it is better to visit this building at sunrise and sunset. If you want to visit these caves safely, it is better to do it early in the morning; That means sunrise is the best time to visit this place.
