Our day three at Aurangabad, saw us visit another, one of the largest set of rock-cut Ellora caves. Ellora too, has large temple-monastery setups and, like Ajanta, it has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site, located in Maharashtra, India.
Ellora has more than 100 caves out of which about 34 caves are made available to public for visits and study. These caves are mainly classified based on their type, as follows:
- 12 Buddhists caves
- 17 Hindi caves
- 5 Jain caves.
Ellora, now an archaeological site is mentioned as a historic commercial center of deccan region, being located on an ancient trade route. The role of these caves is said to be that of Monasteries for monks, temples for prayers.
At Ellora, we initially tried to look for a guide. While Mukta and Devansh, waited for me near the entrance, I parked the car and was walking towards the entrance when I met a person who was a coordinator for guides. I asked him if he could provide us with a guide. That person said yes but asked us to wait for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, near the entrance Mukta had also asked another guide if he would go with us. He said yes and we begun to walk. Â However very shortly, the way the guide was talking, and walking ahead of us, we felt a bit suspicious. It seemed as if the guy was drunk. I asked him sternly about this and he confessed about having taken a small drink. That was strange, and unacceptable. We left him there and went ahead on our own. Wherever we felt the need, we read the details about the caves on the boards outside each cave. These boards had clear information about the caves and we realized we didn’t really need a guide. However if you do get a good guide, it will save you a lot of time as you won’t have to read a lot.
At both places i.e. Ajanta and Ellora, we noticed quite a few Rose-ringed Parakeets & Squirrels. Especially at one of the caves at Ellora, there was a whole colony of squirrels playing around jumping and accepting food from the visitors. Most of them were really noisy.
Despite the heat, our interest in exploring each cave was intact because at Ellora, you are allowed to take your car inside. Thus you can reach out to the caves by your car. Also, since the caves are located at some distance from each other, it is advisable to take your car inside. The roads are good and finding the caves is easy as the directions are clearly marked on the road as well on sides.
You can read more details about Ellora caves Here.
Entry Fee at Ellora Caves
- ₹ 10 per person for Indian citizens.
- ₹ 250 per person for Foreign citizens.
- ₹ 25 per camera for photo/video.
Timings at Ellora Caves
- Wednesday to Monday: 6AM to 6PM
- Tuesday: closed.
