History of Ancient Archaeological Rock Carving in India part 2

Travel:

I had came to Sambhajinagar related to my work. Literally I had no idea that Aurangabad has so many amazing caves. After Inquiring at the hotel where I was staying, I found out that Aurangabad has caves, as well I got some more information about these caves online and decided to visit them. Firstly I went to 'Bibi ka Makbara' from Aurangabad Central Bus Stand. After seeing enjoyed beauty of 'Bibi Ka Maqbara', I decided not to go directly near these caves to explore more details. I got down at Hanuman Tekadi,which is 2 km ahead from Auto. From 'Hanuman Tekadi' these caves start to appear.

Geographically,these caves are at the very end of the Ajanta hill range but, here this called as Aurangabad hill.I walked about 2km from the Hanuman Tekdi area and reached the parking lot of Cave No.6 to 12.

Ticket counter available near this parking lot. This cave is around 100 to 150 meters away from the ticket counter, we have to walk that much distance to reach at caves. After walking such a distance,once I reached these caves.

Wow!!! Its Really amazing👌

Caves Structure:

These caves are carved into the Aurangabad hill range, and are carved out of a single mountain. Mainly basalt stone is seen here, this stone is a type of black stone, I mean this kind of stone also used to make some traditional masala making appliances in most of Indian homes. The hardness of this stone is medium and another feature is that this stone is known to be resistant to sun, wind, water and acid and it does not break when working with chisel & hammer. That is why? basalt stone is considered to be the best stone for carving.

From this, we must have realized why these caves are carved in this stone.

Purpose of Carving Caves:

These caves are associated with the Mahayana cult as well the early period after Lord Gautama Buddha's Mahaparinirvana. So to understand these caves, we need to look into this period first.

It is very important to know what was the purpose behind the carving of the caves. Otherwise, these caves will continue to appear to us as caves and statues carved out of stone.

You may know that most of the structures built in ancient times like Temples, Hospice and Caves were mostly located away from the village. They mostly had seen on the trade route or on the route where trade was conducted. Their purpose was to propagate and spread the religion. But at that time the means of transportation facilities were not available like today, so people had to travel by foot and had to make stops during long journey. So question was common where to stay during log journey? So at that time, the passersby were getting safe shelter in such a structure.

Continued....