Saturday June 27th - Aurangabad and the caves

Today, the day started off bright and early at 4:45 a.m. Today’s plan was to sight see

Aurangabad’s caves and sleep in The Lemon Tree hotel. Even though everyone was tired and exhausted, everyone woke up on time and did not give any complaints to Mrs. Keller-Coffey, Ms. Havard, and Mr. Dilley. Because the students knew that we were going to be having nice food, a swimming pool, and a comfy bed there was no hesitation to wake up early and travel. During the bus ride, a lot of kids slept because of an early start to the day. Everyone was able to observe the migrant workers and children that farmed on the near sugar cane field for their living along with some villagers who were starting their day early. The bus ride was 5 hours long and when we finally got to Aurangabad there was soda and tea waiting for us. After the refreshments, the group headed to the caves. Upon the arrival, the group saw a lot of Indian people and our tour guide, Akash, explained that this attraction was popular among the Indian people. The purpose of this cave was shrines for Hinduism, Buddism, and Jainism. When the group went in to the cave, they encountered the massive monolithic structure that was hand carved for over Six Hundred Years starting from 7^th Century A.D. This monolithic structure was very finely carved and the faces of each individual in the carvings were very detailed. The massive structure awed the group with its intricate carvings and how the temples were built over centuries. 

Composed by Brandon and Claire

PS. We found it interesting that this temple was built from the top down, digging one meter at a time and carving out details in the rock as they went – without the need for scaffolding. As it was worked on over centuries, the designers and artists that contributed to this temple never saw their final creation. Of note as well is that though successive religious groups created caves and carvings at this sight, they did not remove those that came before them.