This is an archaeological site near Verul village, Tq Khultabad, Dist Aurangabad. 30 km (19 mi) from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra. These caves are carved in 500 Years by generations of the carvers. In and around time frame of Rashtrakuta rulers. Well-known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site.[1] Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. These are 34 "caves" – actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills – being Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock cut temples and monasteries. These were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (caves 13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.
In the time domain 500BC to 300 BC the village Verul was close to the business route from Paithan to the Ujjain. All the business caravans use to pass near this site.
Information about Paithan :
Paithan formerly Pratishthana, the city was the capital of the Sa-tava-hana empire of ancient India that ruled from 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD. It is one of the few inland towns mentioned in the famous 1st century AD Greek book, Periplus Maris Erytharaei. Paithan is located 56 km south of present-day Aurangabad on the Godavari River in Maharashtra. The town is mostly famous today for its sarees — the Paithani beautiful silk saris which sport intricately embroidered gold or silver borders.
Information about Ujjain :
Ujjain (also known as Ujjain, Ujjayini, Avanti, Avantikapuri), is an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, on the eastern bank of the Kshipra River (today part of the state of Madhya Pradesh). It is the administrative centre of Ujjain District and Ujjain Division.
In ancient times the city was called Ujjayini. As mentioned in the Mahabharata epic, Ujjayini was the capital of the Avanti Kingdom, and has been the Prime Meridian for Hindu geographers since the 4th century BCE. Ujjain is one of the seven sacred cities(Sapta puri) of the Hindus, and the Kumbh Mela religious festival is held there every 12 years. It is also home to Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga, one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines to the god Shiva and is also the place where Lord Krishna got education with Balarama and Sudama from Maharshi Sandipani. According to the Puranas, the city of Ujjain was called Avantika and was famous for its beauty and its devotional epicenter. It was also one of the primary cities where students went to study holy scriptures.
Information about Grishneshwar:
Grishneshwar, also known as Ghushmeshwar, is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the sacred abodes of Shiva. The temple is located eleven km from Daulatabad, near Aurangabad in Maharashtra India. The temple is located near the famous Ellora Caves.
Pilgrim Path : From Grishneshwar to Mahakaleshwar was also present in the old time. Thus the importance to this place was very high.
It's been observed that the Buddhist caves are old than rest of the caves, if we compare the period of development. Buddhist caves were monasteries, In my opinion most of the time the carvings and paintings are done by the Buddhist monks. As this was normal style to remember the god. It's possible that this practice of Buddhist monks may have been adopted/learned by the next generation carvers.
The donations from kings, regional rulers, rich people and travelers was used for livelihood of the sculptors. One generation of the sculptors might have developed the next generations.
It's been explained that the 10 generations of the sculptors were working to carve the "Kailas Leni" (Cave 16 of Ellora) for 200 years.
The photos in the Picasa section of this web-page are of caves 17 to cave 32.
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