A Journey Through Caves

One Word Photo Challenge: Taupe

Taupe is a noun that means grey with a tinge of brown. 

The Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as “the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting”, which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales. The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Source: Wikipedia )

We are delighted to share and take our viewers on a tour to some of the taupe structures. The photographs were taken during our visit to Ajanta Caves this October. We think they would fit well in this challenge.

Happy Journey!

In the pre-Christian era, the Buddha was represented symbolically, in the form of the stupa. Thus, halls were made with stupas to venerate the Buddha. In later periods the images of the Buddha started to be made in coins, relic caskets, relief or loose sculptural forms, etc.

An entrance to a cave

Musical Pillars: The pillars that you see in the picture below emit musical sound when rapped.

A passage in one of the caves

Sculptures of Buddha in different mudras

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