THE AJANTA CAVES

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THE AJANTA CAVES
INDIA
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Little more than two hours from the old city of
Aurangabad are the famous Caves of Ajanta,
Thirty-two grottos that are not natural but had
been cut in hills for thousands of years by
workers who had only used cinzéis and hammers.
Sculptured in the volcanic basalt rock, the
craftsmen had been meticulously cinzelando the
rock little by little, cutting the columns in
strategic places and creating some rooms inside
of the rock. The walls and ceilings had been
wonderfully decorated and had created colorful
paintings with plaster applications .
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General view of the place
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The majority of paintings are more than 1500
years old . Ten centuries before the birth of
Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the European
renaissance, these unknown artists already knew
how to use perspective, depth and realism in
their paintings. The expressions and emotions
captured in the faces of the painting are so real
that today, after some centuries, they can still
be admired.
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The oldest cave traces to the second century
before Christ. Some of them are Viharas
(convents) or monasteries, great chambers with
small rooms that lead off the main room and it
was where they lived as monks. Some of these
rooms have beds of cut rock, with a cushion in
which monks could rest their heads.
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The remaining portion of the caves are Chaityas
or temples, very similar to Christian
cathedrals, with ceilings abobodados with
cross-ribbed wooden beams, and with decorated
pillars of rocks. In the central section (where a
Christian church would have its altar) might be a
great statue of Buddha. Remember that these
temples of rock had been cut many centuries
before the Christian cathedrals, which can lead
us to speculate whether they had been the
inspiration for the great architects of the
Medieval Age, and not the Greek and Roman classic
temples.
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It is surprising to think that the great masters
who had created these wonders used only small
tools of work. Still they had thus bequeathed us
something universal and magical that we can
contemplate today. The centuries seem like small
water drops in the Walls of these caves.
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Plate in the entrance of the caves
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The caves of Ajanta
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One of the entrances of the caves
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32 caves are excavated in the rock
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One of the entrances
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Two elephants in one of the doors
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Rio Vaghora
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Some caves are monasteries
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Interior
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A great reclined Buddha
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A Hindu family admires the work of its ancestor
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well conserved wall
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frescos in the walls
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Guard who takes care of of the entrance
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