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A visit to the Ajanta and Ellora - places of immense historical significance - on your tour to India will open up options of various well made and exciting tour packages which offer tours based on various themes at various budgets, furnishing to the requirements and tastes of the various travelers .
Explore the wide-ranging tour packages for Ajanta and Ellora and holiday offers that will make your trip to the historical site worth remembrance. Choose any one of our range of tour packages and holiday offers as per your own preferences. The Ajanta and Ellora tour packages vary on the basis of time span and nature of the tour, and the kind of accommodation desired. Following are the various choices of tour packages available:
Western Sojourn
Magical Maharashtra
Fusion of Western and Southern India
Special Packages for India
The mentioned tour packages offer not only first class options of accommodation, but also interesting and exciting trips to the various sightseeing attractions in and around Ajanta and Ellora. Some of the caves of Ajanta and Ellora basically date back to as early as the second and first centuries during the satavahana period. Declared as World Heritage Site, the Ajanta and Ellora caves see the influx of several tourists and the tour packages help them discover the place in various perspectives.
The Ajanta caves, situated 107 km from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, were found in 1819 by a British Army Officer, John Smith, while he was on a hunting expedition with his group. Carved into the mountains, over the Waghora River, they were discovered lying amid the Sahyadri hills. The 29 caves of Ajanta were specifically built as hideaways for the Buddhist monks, who engaged in meditations and sermons. Chaitya halls, shrines and several viharas (monasteries) stand witness to this fact.
These rock cut monuments, through their characteristic paintings, illustrate different facets of Buddhism with the help of various stories, covering a span from 200 BC to 650 AD. A lot of the caves display panels narrating tales from the Jatakas - tales of the incarnations of the Buddha as Bodhisattva.
Approximately twenty six kilometers north of Aurangabad are located the 34 Ellora caves. The monuments have been carved out of the vertical side of the Khultabad cave of westwards to the Deccan plains . Carved in the period between 350 AD and 700 AD, these structures represent the three faiths of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. 12 of them to the south are dedicated to Buddhism, 17 of them in the centre to Hinduism, and the 5 caves to the north to Jainism.
The Kailasa temple in Cave 16, believed to be the holy abode of Lord Shiva, stands as one of the most excellent architectural wonders with its being the largest monolithic structures in the world. Its gateway, pavilion, sanctum, assembly hall and the tower - all are all cut out of a single boulder. The construction of this sculpture starts from the very top and continues along the sides. The Dumar Lena cave, dedicated to Lord Shiva, has been modeled in the lines of the famous cave - temple at Elephanta.
The Jain caves are situated approximately a mile away from the Kailasa temple, among which Cave 32 bears a spectacular shrine adorned with fine carved sculptures of a yakshi on a lion underneath a mango tree and a lotus flower on top of the roof. Caves 32 and 34 house the magnificent statues of Parasnath.
Browse through the following list of the various spots of interest that make this site one of the most visited ones in the country:
Bibi-Ka-Maqbara,
Aurangabad Caves
Panchakki (WaterMill)
Log on to www.touristplacesinindia.com which gives online information about Tour Packages and booking for India travel tours etc.
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