Aurangabad is a large and largely nondescript city in the Maharashtra heartland, but is used as a base for exploring the outstanding cave temple complexes at Ellora and Ajanta. Ellora, located just 30km to the northwest of the city, is home to 34 caves in total: variously dating back between AD 600 and 1,000, and between them representing the three distinct faiths of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. The highlight of a trip to Ellora is the staggering Kailasa Temple, a megalith cut entirely out of the rock face, which appears quite beyond the realms of imagination. Ajanta on the other hand is located further afield, some 100km northeast of Aurangabad, and predates Ellora by nearly 1,000 years. It is said that the rise of Ellora brought about the demise of Ajanta, and these caves lay abandoned and deserted until 1819, when stumbed upon – completely by chance – by British explorer John Smith.

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