Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves are a group of 30 Buddhist rock-cut monuments carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora valley in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. The earliest go back to the 2nd century BCE. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, they are celebrated for frescoes and sculptures showing the life and teachings of the Buddha, Buddhist stories and scenes of daily life.

The caves are of two kinds: chaityas, which are large prayer halls, and viharas, smaller monasteries where monks lived and meditated. The best-known image is Padmapani, the bodhisattva holding a lotus, which appears in several forms. Forgotten for centuries, the caves came back to notice in 1819, when a British hunting party chasing a tiger came across them. A museum near the site displays sculptures and finds from excavations, and the surrounding hills offer viewpoints and walking trails.