At the end of November 2024, I decided to undertake a cross-country drive from Noida to Bangalore. The purpose of the trip was two-fold – I wanted to visit my brother and sister-in-law who live in Bangalore and deliver to them their car which was in Noida. The other purpose was for me to see India like I have never done before. I had travelled long distance earlier too, but those trips had been more about reaching the destination. This was supposed to be different – as much about the journey as the destination. Ellora was supposed to be my second night halt on this sojourn. It was approximately a seven-hour drive from my previous halt in the outskirts of Indore.
The drive was a scenic one via the rustic countryside of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. I started at around 6:30 am and reached Ellora by 3 pm. On the way, I stopped at a road-side eatery for breakfast.
The route passes through some scenic terrain – especially when it crosses the Gautala Autramghat Sanctuary. Winding roads, a car with sorted dynamics and a song in the heart is all a traveller needs!
After checking-in to my hotel, I hurried to the Ellora Caves which were a mere 2 min walk from where I was staying. Ellora caves are an architectural marvel and a testament to what human will can do. The caves took over 160 years to carve (across several human generations) and are a wonder to marvel at. The sheer will and perseverance required to create something so large in scale (even by modern standards) and to keep at it across generations can only be imagined. They are deservedly a UNESCO world heritage site and if left to me, they’d be counted among the wonders of the world giving company to the Great Pyramids of Egypt or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Ellora Caves is a complex of several Hindu and Buddhist cave temples out of which four are open for tourists.
The most famous cave is Cave 16 or the world famous Kailasa Temple dedicated to the Hindu God Lord Shiva.
Words are not sufficient to describe the magnificent grandeur of the Kailasa Cave. I will let pictures do the talking.
In this era of Artificial Intelligence and algorithms, places like Ellora remind us why human genius cannot be distilled down into data and patterns. Human creativity will always be relevant. It is because as humans we have something that machines can never have – a soul.
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