The Buddhist caves of Ajanta – 166km north-east of Aurangabad, or about 60km south of Jalgaon – date from around 200 BC to 650 AD, predating those at Ellora. As Ellora developed and Buddhism gradually declined, the Ajanta caves were abandoned and eventually forgotten. But in 1819 a British hunting party stumbled upon them, and their remore beauty was soon unveiled. Their isolation contributed to the fine state of preservation in which some of their remarkable paintings remain to this day. Ajanta is listed as a World Heritatge Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiation (UNESCO).

The World Heritage-listed cave temples of Ellora, about 30km from Aurangabad, are the pinnacle of Deccan rock-cut architecture. Over five centuries, generations of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monks carved monasteries, chapels and temples from a 2km long escarpment and decorated them with a profusion of sculptures of remarkable imagination and detail.

Because of the escarpment’s gentle slope, in contrast to the sheer drop at Ajanta, many of the caves have elaborate courtyards in front of the main shrine. The caves run north-south and take on a golden radiance in the late-afternoon sun. In all there are 34 caves at Ellora: 12 Buddhist (600-800 AD), 17 Hindu (600-900 AD) and 05 Jain (800-1000 AD). Ellora represents the renaissance of Hinduism under the Chalukya and Rashtrakuta dynasties, The subsequent decline of Indian Buddhism, and a brief resurgence of Jainism under official patronage.