Out of Order?

There are a couple of entries that are saved 'somewhere' because of my low-tech skills. Dr Ashwin will help me when he has time, and you shall surely get them in spite of said skills.

Our most recent adventure was with driver Vijay and helper Da Tah' in Dr Ashwin's big, shinny, black 7 or 8 passenger car with a small decal that has a red cross on it with the word "DOCTOR" across it. It's not big or showy; I only noticed it myself the 2nd day. I mention this to help explain why these 2 white headed, very fair complected elders with the TWO 'drivers' were thought to have lots (or LOTS) of money.

The trip was to the caves of Ajanta and Ellora near Aurangabad about 70 miles from Pune. The caves date back to the 2nd century BCE and are carved from ONE mountain of volcanic rock, probably an uprising of lava that never erupted, but cooled and crystallized underground. I hope I'm explaining so that you can grasp the enormity of the task these monks accomplished with a hammer and chisel only. There are 30 caves at Ajanta, some are like dormitories with single cells that include a chiseled 'bed/pillow' along the walls and a large open space with a 6' sitting Buddha. Others have a large room and a large Buddha. All have many pillars. Remember, all of this out of one part of a rock mt. They started in the front and at the top and worked to the back and the bottom. The angles are all perfect 90 degrees. They seem to have been abandoned in the 1st century AD, and no one we've asked has known why, other than to say that Buddhism seemed to be moving to the east where it is still strong today.

We didn't go in all the caves; there was much walking and climbing. We were convinced to hire a chair. 'Hire a chair?' how do I do that? Four men, not all young and not all strong looking appeared with a chair tied securely to 2 long poles. I was not sure they could carry me - that's almost 100 lbs each. They assured they were able and used to the work. It was 800 Rs ($16) for each of us. It took a long time for me to agree, but finally did and was hoisted up and walked quickly up several flights of stairs. At the first stop I decided they were worth at least what they'd ask. PC at first decided to walk, and the chair men walked beside him til he realized where our destination was. Then he joined me, high above the school children who waved and spoke and smiles and took our pictures. I guess we were a spectacle. The trip down was fast, the men in perfect step on all the steps and passageways and slanting walkways. When the sat us down, safe and sound (us), sweating and panting (them) we paid them more than they'd asked. They had truly earned it!!!

The first afternoon we were there, Vijay took us to the mimi Taj. It was built by the son of the man who'd built the Taj for his wife. The Taj is 80% marble and 20% plaster. The mini Taj is 20% marble and 80% plaster, and dedicated to the builder's mom (are you following this? - that's the same woman the Taj was dedicated to.) In this one (dedicated to his mom) houses his wife. We went inside and saw the place where she is entombed beneath. Here, again, it was being worked on and restored. The whole area is 32 acres and has many gardens and a variety of what was once pools.There were lots of people there of all ages and religions. I saw 4 or 5 teen Muslim girls in heels and colorful pants and stylish tops that don't quite reach the top of the pants with their long thin black cloak loosely draping from their shoulders like a choir robe that's been unfastened, but not quite taken off just yet. They were laughing and talking like teens most anywhere. I couldn't help but think their mom and dad weren't there.

On the way to the Ellora caves, we saw Daulatabad Fort, built in the 12th century, said to be the most magnificent fort in this state of Maharashtra. It is about 60' above the surrounding plain on a volcanic core - straight up basaltic rock with soil on the top. It looked small from the road, but the wall around it enclosed about 100 football fields of plain with the elevated fort in the middle. PC noticed a mote outside the portion of the wall we could see. It seems there was a great battle here between the Muslim king and the Hindu king. The Hindu king won and established the Maharashtra "city-state" which is now the state. In every city and village there can be found a statue of this Hindu king and many public areas are named for him (airports, highways, schools, etc.) I'll have to get his name later. Sorry.

The Ellora Caves are Buddhist, Hindu and Janis. The Buddhist caves were oldest - starting at 5th century. Same strong angles and graceful Buddha statues. The Hindu temples are true to square, but carved everywhere!!! Hindus allow many gods. India is a vast area with many dividing mts and wide river valleys separating the people by language and climate and religion and custom. Many people observed many different customs, so many gods were acknowledged according to the history and need of the people. Hinduism has no one person who "started" it, but is a collection of all the gods the people have prayed to and heard from. This is my own poor attempt to explain; there are better explanations almost anywhere., but to help understand these Hindu caves, this is a start. These caves, too, are chiseled from one rock mt, kinda like Enchanted Roch in the hill country of Tx, but much larger. These were "discovered" in the 17th century by some Britts hunting out from their post. They have been excavated and have been found to hold both monasteries and temples. Cave #16 has the world's largest monolith. We saw it and photographed it. This temple was at least 3 floors in height and complex in design. Many gods, elephants and cows were carved there in huge and small dimensions. The Jains caves are younger and least precise. It's possible the rock was softer - it is a different color. It's really hard to imagine how this work was done and why it was abandoned.

We got back to Pune last night and this has been a day of rest for us, as Ashwin and Sunita are at work.. Tomorrow we leave for our Ragasthan trip of 12 days ,ending in New Delhi for a week in the YMCA. From there we'll take day trips to the Golden Temple of the Sheiks and the Taj. Hopefully we'll get to hang out at the New Delhi University where Grace, Mercy's sister, teaches.

Hopefully, too, photos will be forthcoming. I've taken well over 2000 by now. I LOVE this filmless camera - what a great idea!!! We really miss you folks. We'll be home Feb 17th. Love and prayers from MJ&PC