The summer holidays and other holiday seasons are however popular among the touring Indian families. It’s also the crowded season with tighter reservation availability in the trains and over booked hotel accommodations. So skip weekends and other holiday seasons, if you are looking to enjoy Ellora with all its tranquility.

During the monsoon (rain) season the otherwise greyish looking landscape turn green. Even the streams that flows over the caves are turns vigorous, especially that majestic waterfall between Cave 28 and Cave 29 (Dumar Lena ). The fall and the streams changes the whole perspective of the Ellora’s environs during the monsoon season.

The annual four day Ellora Festival is held at the 17th century Soneri Mahal (Golden Palace) in Aurangabad during the last week of November. Earlier Ellora proper used to be its venue. Artists of national repute perform.

Of course Aurangabad has much more choices of hotels than Ellora. And also it is a continent base for excursions and onward journey. However if you are very specific look for one of the mid sized hotels in Ellora.

There are also some cheaper backpacked accommodations available in Ellora. If all get over booked, your next option is one of the hotels in Aurangabad!

Pitalkhora caves, located north of Ellora is much more older site than Ellora. From a tourism point this is less publicized than the more familiar Ajanta and Ellora, and hence less crowded.

For the religiously inclined, the Grineshwar Temple close to Ellora is an important place of pilgrimage.

Daulatabad on the way to Ellora form Aurangabad has one of the most impressive forts in India.

Khuldabad , some 3km (about 2miles) before you reach Ellora has a number of Mughal era monuments including the tomb of Emperor Aurangazeb. The tropical dry deciduous forest, Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary, is located further north of Ellora.

In short, other than Ajanta and Ellora you can spend many days in Aurangabad and go for day excursions to the attractions in the region.

The general layout of the caves, architectural details, mythical & spiritual themes, sculptural artistry and to some extend the natural beauty of the surroundings are the major highlights.

And of course for those keen on history and archeology, Ellora is a great place of study. The ambient is still sublime with the air of an ancient spiritual center.

Leaving its complicated history,mythology and philosophies behind, let’s first understand what are Ellora caves. As the name suggests these are caves scooped out of the cliffs of mountain ranges called Sahyadari Hills located in the present day western Indian state of Maharastra.

What is special about these caves are the way its made are the purpose behind it. The caves were made as temples, montessories, chapels, prayer halls or even granaries by the Buddhist, Hindu and Jaina traditions. Though the caves were made for religious reasons, many of them are architectural masterpieces with extraordinary artistic expressions.

The caves of Ellora are many centuries old, the youngest is a thousand years old and the oldest is probably another five more centuries older. The ethics and customs of those days encouraged building them as noble causes. Rulers of the region, mostly the Rashtrakuta clans, and often wealthy merchants were its chief patrons.

During its hay days, this place was an important center for spiritual learning. However with events in history, the religious significance of the place gradually diminished over the centuries. Currently the Ellora caves are an important tourism destination in India. From that perspective Ellora Caves essentially means a series of 34 caves spread along the 2 km (1.5 miles) or so along the basalt cliff of this hilly region. And it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site too.

You have a choice of some 5 daily flights between Mumbai and Aurangabad.
It is a short flight that takes between 45 to 60 minuets. In fact a larger part of the traveling time will be spend in negotiating the traffics the two cities, especially on roads of the more busy Mumbai.
One reason for the flight’s popularity is that you can save a days travel to reach Aurangabad. It is also not uncommon for tourists to opt for one way by flight and return by the night train. So it is a smart choice of options and budgets to a Ellora/Ajanta tour.
Jet Airways, JetLite, Kingfisher and Air India operated daily flights. The fare varies though it is about Rs3000 one way.
Aurangabad airport (also called Chikkalthana Airport ) is about 10 Km (6 Miles) east of the city center. Ellora is further some 30km from the city. Ajanta is 100km in a different direction than Ellora. So making it to Ahjanta and Ellora on the same day, even if you opt for the flight to save time from Mumbai is a bit hectic.

So were do you start?
Well, like mentioned above, Ellora is a huge archeological site with some complex themes. Your preparation broadly falls into two categories – understanding the themes of Ellora and getting yourself organized to the tour.
Let’s take the first part to begin with. This is going to a tough one especially if you are new to the Indian heritage and its belief systems. The whole of the Ellora Caves are centered around three religious themes – Hinduism, Budhism and Jainism. A large number of caves are richly carved with images from mythology and concepts related to these three religion.

If you are new to it , get a basic understanding of these religions. More specifically the iconography relating to them. For example you’ll find image of Buddha in a meditating position with many celestial figures and followers around. In Buddhism the concept of meditation is an important (rather the central ) aspect in attaining enlightenment. Buddha attained the enlightenment through meditation. So an overwhelmingly large part of the Buddhist caves are portrayed with images of Buddha in meditating form. Also try to understand the other philosophical and mythical aspects of Buddhism.
Similarly in Buddhist Chaitya (shrine/ cathedral ) you will find a dome shaped pillar as the focus point, called Stupa. In the earliest school of Buddhism these Stupas were plane and devoid of any icons. In the later phases of Buddhism, the image of Buddha is added to the Stupa as the object of worship.

Thanks to the abundance of mythological themes, the Hindu caves are a lot more difficult to comprehend than say the Buddhist or Jaina caves. For example you can see the image of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati siting on the mount Kailash, while Ravana , the ten headed,20 armed demon king, tries to shake the mountain. This is a snap shot from the Hindu mythology.
Hindu goddess Mahishasura Mardini. Shakti, the consort of Shiva as the Slayer of Mahisha, the Buffalo demon.

The Jaina caves looks a lot similar to the Hindu and Buddhist Caves. But the concepts of Jainism is a lot different than either. The naked figures you see often in the standing postures are the images of Tirthankar (Fordmaker or Saints ) in Jainism.
Panels from a Jaina cave in Ellora

There are 24 Tirathankars in Jainism who achieved the status of enlightenment through asceticism. On the images you can see creepers growing around the body or even with a snake hood over the head.
In short get a quick grip of these mythical themes and concepts as a preperatory work for your forthcoming Ellora tour. You will not regret the efforts. Even if you can hire a guide at Ellora , having a bit of prior understanding of the concepts related to the three religions put you in a far better position to understand what is Ellora is all about.
The second part of the preparation is related the more practical aspects of your excursion. For example understanding the layout of the site, plan the tour, fine-tune the itinerary etc.
Be prepared for a long walk. The caves are accessed through a long path approximately 2km (1.5 miles) along the face of the hill. In all probability you would have walked much more than that considering the circuitous nature of the tour. Baring a few steeps steps to access certain caves , it is not a hard trek. Some caves (the Jaina group) is located a bit far end of the tour path. You have the option to walk or hire an auto rickshaw ( local taxi) to get dropped. So based on your interest, time in hand and stamina(!) fine tune your itinerary for the caves.

If you are hard pressed in any of these departments, trim drown the list to a manageable level. Add only the most significant and easy to access caves. The Happy news for those who are looking for a truncated tour of Ellora is that major caves are easily accessible. The flagship of Ellora tourism, the majestic Kailashanatha Cave Temple is located right next to the place where the bus/cab has dropped you!

A point or two about the climate of Ellora. Days are hot and dry in general. But once inside the cave, it is cooler even during the peak of the summer. The trouble is when you come out of one cave and go towards another one. Bring along that wide hat. Resting your luggage to a simple rugsack you can carry easily. Keep a bottle of water. A trick to beat the heat is to reach the site well before the day hots up. And its hots up fast. If you are staying in Ellora itself, it is pretty easy. Otherwise if you are traveling from Aurangabad, it’s a 1 hour journey.
If you are into photography, understand when you get the best lights. The caves are on the western side of the north-south oriented hill range. That means entrance to the caves in general face west and the inside is well lit for photography during the afternoons. Also keep in mind tripods are not allowed inside the caves.

For those who wants to do the tour at their own style take a taxi or catch a bus to Ellora. Otherwise opt for on of the organized tours. Both has its own merits and drawbacks. Yon can ‘cover’ Ellora in a few hours. But a serious visitor to Ellora makes it as a full day venture.
Keep it in mind that Ellora is closed on Tuesdays!