Visit Mumbai Goa and The Deccan
A short flight from Mumbai, the city of Aurangabad is the base for visiting Ajanta and Ellora. Carved into the cliff face above the Waghore River, the caves at Ajanta are full of surprises. Created by Buddhist monks from 200BC to 650AD, they are beautifully decorated with intricate paintings depicting the life of the Buddha. Undisturbed for centuries, they were rediscovered by a hunting party in 1819 and in the meantime a new work of art was created at Ellora. The masterpiece is Kailash Temple, the world’s largest monolithic sculpture, which involved the removal of 200,000 tonnes of rock.