Gandharpale Buddhist Caves on NH66 aka NH17 near Mahad in Maharashtra (India)

Friday, May 27, 2016

After visting the Sav Hot Water Springs we headed over the NH17 to reach the Gandharpale Caves just before Mahad. Again they are located in the Mahad Taluka of the Raigad district of Maharashtra. The caves are located on the left hand side and can be easily seen from a distance while travelling on NH17 aka NH66. The caves are around 5 KM away from Hotel Neelkamal (Jetty for Sav Hot Water Springs).

Gandharpale Buddhist Caves high up on the hills

A series of steps leads to the caves. There is a tiny hut near the start of the steps, that serves cold drinks and packed snacks. These steps are newly built. But not that new either. I recollect, 2 decades ago, when I was schooling,  I used to travel to Goa by bus for summer vacation, I used to see these caves then, but was not sure as to what their names were.

Gandharpale Buddhist Caves

The caves structure are similar in nature to the ones I have seen at Kanheri Caves. A narrow stone staircase similar to the one at Bedse Caves leads to the caves at large. There should be around 24 caves here.

Stairs leading to Gandharpale Buddhist Caves and NH17

The cave premises are neat and tidy, I am sure they are looked after. The caves are not in very good condition though and they have graffiti on some of the cave walls. A stupa and certain carvings are still visible on certain caves. All the caves are carved on a single hill, similar to Ajanta and Aurangabad Caves near Aurangabad.

Gandharpale Buddhist Caves

We visited all the caves and then rested in one of them. The caves offer a wonderful view of the the NH17 and the tiny villages, farms and hills in a distance.

Stu[pa and Carvings at Gandharpale Buddhist Caves

We then headed to Khed Caves near the Khed ST Bus Stand. 

Sunheri Mahal on the outskirts of Aurangabad City

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

As I was standing next to the Aurangabad Caves I got a beautiful view of the city below. The view is simply amazing. Barren lands and houses in Aurangabad city sandwitched between the hills ranges.

I got a beautiful view of Bibi Ka Maqbara and Sunheri Mahal from here. Though these places were far away they looked so big even from a distance. Just makes me imagine how gigantic it will be when I am close to it.

Sunheri Mahal as the name states was shining in the sun. It was painted yellow in color and shone in the sun. I could see it from atop Aurangabad Caves. It had a garden like thing before its building. Like a “aangan” in Marathi.

Sunheri Mahal from Aurangabad Caves

From a distance it was appearing that huge; imagine how big it will be when I am in its premises.

Within 15 minutes by rickshaw we were at the entrance of Sunheri Mahal.

There was on old structure standing there, which stood as the entrance to Sunheri Mahal. It’s a good thing that it is being redone. I am happy to see that we are taking care of your history.

As you enter it, you will see a small narrow rectangular water fountain which had identical flora growing next to it and in front of us stood Sunheri Mahal.

The yellow painted structure stands out in the mud colored hills behind it.

Sunheri Mahal

Sunheri Mahal is a golden palace situated in the outskirts of Aurangabad city at Paharsinghpura. It is inside the campus of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University.

The Palace was built by a Bundelkhand Chief who had accompanied Aurangzeb to the Deccan.

Sunheri Mahal was built between 1651 and 1653 at a cost of Rs.50,000 and in 1934 it was sold to the Nizam of Hyderabad for Rs.26,400.

The entrance of the Palace is decorated with beautifully done arches.

The Palace is now a Museum. It was set up in 1979 and displays sculptures, paintings, ornaments, pottery and weapons. The museum is open from 1030 hours to 1700 hours each day except for Monday.

Aurangabad Caves from Sunheri Mahal

No photography is allowed in the premises of the museum. As I entered the museum I saw black colored cannons standing there with cannon balls next to it.

The walls were adorned with beautiful paintings made on wood and glass. Never seenpaintings like this before but they were truly good. There were sculptures in Stone, Bronze and Brass of Hindu Gods kept for display in the premises. These were beautifully carved out.

Swords, Cannons, Guns and GunCannon were kept for display. Out of which what caught my attention is GunCannon. It had the trigger of a gun and had a long funnel and I guess miniature cannon balls need to be loaded in it to fire.

The Darbar gallery was beautifully painted. It is said that the interiors of this place were once painted Gold. But due to repair work done on this it is now repainted. But some parts of the previous paintings can still be seen.

Musical instruments used then are also up for display. Now with the coming of DJ music who plays these instruments. I guess they are played only if some performance is given.

Beautifully designed and decorated treasure chests are on display all over the place.

A throne for Ganpati made of wood and polished dark brown is also on display within the Palace premises.

The museum is on the ground floor and the office is on the first floor.

It’s good that they have now started maintaining the premises. After all a 400 year old Palace has survived that long and should be worked on to survive for centuries to come.

I enjoyed my visit here in the history museum.

Aurangabad Caves in Aurangabad

Sunday, May 25, 2014

We got ourselves a rickshaw to visit Aurangabad Caves and Sunheri Mahal; both are located on the outskirts of the city.

Aurangabad Caves Eastern side from a distance

The rickshaw cost was included on our package tour including the Darwazas of Aurangabad.

Sculptures in the Caves

We headed to see the Caves first. In a matter of minutes we were out of the city premises and on to the hills, we were climbing up and down hills to reach the caves.

Caves

The land around the caves was barren; we could hardly see any greenery around. The heat was getting unbearable here but that didn’t dampen our spirits and we continued on our quest.

Eastern side of the Caves

Aurangabad Caves are divided into two halves. The Eastern and Western side.  Caves 1 to 5 are on the Western side and the others on the Eastern side.  These caves were cut between the 6^th and 8^th century in the Siyachal ranges.

Cavings inside the cave premises

I am not sure which side we landed first but we headed to get ourselves a ticket. There was no one at the ticket counter. It was locked. But there was no gate to see the Caves.  The price of ticket was Rs.5.

Sleeping Buddha

There are few caves here in comparison to Ajanta and Ellora  Caves. The caves are almost identical to Ajanta and Ellora Caves so I am of the understanding that they might have been built in the same era.

More carvings

Again these caves appeared to me as if they are being maintained. I won’t be surprised if the Japanese are looking after its wellbeing.  Like Ajanta Caves.

They have nicely constructed steps to view each of the caves, nets are put up all over the caves so that Bats don’t make them their homes and the caves are nice and clean.

Carvings

Again these caves have beautifully carved pillars and mythological figures carved on the walls as Ajanta Caves.  The carvings were repetitive.

Though the heat was killing us when we were approaching the caves, the weather here was quite pleasant. God alone knows how. As we are on the hilltop.

Western side of Aurangabad Caves

As we were exiting we saw the ticket counter open and we got ourselves tickets. The person vending tickets also told us that the ticket is the same for all the caves.  So we kept the tickets safely.

Not a soul other than Namrata and Me here.

Sculptures carved in the rock

We then boarded the rickshaw and went over to the other side to see the other part of the caves.

A series of constructed steps leads to the top. These steps were constructed by the ASI as they are looking after the wellbeing of the Caves.

Stupa

There was no one here to check the tickets. Lol.

Climbing up the stairs can put pressure up on your knees so climb slowly.  As we were climbing a few people noticed peacocks atop the hill, sadly we didn’t notice them.

Doors to the Caves

Finally we reached the top. Again the walls were beautifully carved with mythological figures and so were the pillars. Each of the caves had a sculpture of Buddha in them. I also noticed that some of the caves had been painted in beige color which had started to peel off. 

More Caves

Not sure why they were painted. Most were the way there were meant to be.

Carvings on the walls of the Caves

The Caves offers a wonderful view of Bibi ka Maqbara and Sunheri Mahal in a distance and also the city of Aurangabad.

Next pitstop Sunheri Mahal.

Aurangabad - Entry in the historical city

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

When I first heard of a city named Aurangabad, the first thing that came to my mind is Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb the Great Mughul Emperor. Still don’t know him? No problem Aurangzeb is the son of Shah Jahan, the man who built the Taj Mahal for his wife Mumtaz. Now you know him. Great.

History was my favorite subject in school and Aurangzeb used to feature in it. I had it in the back of my mind that Aurangabad has to be a historical city simply because it was named after Aurangzeb. So I decided to pack my bags and go explore this beautiful city. O by the way the name of the city was originally Khadki. It was later named Aurangabad after the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

I had my itinerary planned. Aurangabad Caves, Bibi k Maqbara, Himroo Factory, Panchakki, Daulatabad Fort, Khuldabad, Pitalkhora Caves, Sunheri Mahal Museum, University Museum, Chatrapathi Shivaji Museum, ElloraCaves, Ajanta Caves, Lonar Crater, Jama Masjid and the Doors to the city.

I had no idea as to how far these places were from each other, so instead of looking it up the map, I had planned with Namrata that we would go there and figure it for ourselves. I opted for two’s co as we didn’t want a crowd.

Public transport in the form of buses, trains and aero planes ply to Aurangabad on a daily basis other than the private vehicles. Planes are out of our budget and train tickets we wouldn’t get at a short notice so we opted for bus.

So as decided we boarded a bus to take us to Aurangabad. It took us around 10 hours to reach Aurangabad. As we were new to the city we decided to exit the bus near the ST bus stand or the Train Station as the number of hotels would be more there.

The bus landed us at a stop that was equidistant from the ST bus stand and the Train Station. As there were no hotels in that vicinity we decided to head to the ST bus stand. Why ST bus stand and not Train station is the question you will have in your head. Reason is simple we wanted to explore the place either by an ST bus or an auto rickshaw which would be easily available near the ST bus stand.

After walking for 20 minutes towards finally we could see hotels on either side of the roads. Finally the hotels are here. We checked in a hotel named Devpriya next to a nalla and at a distance of 5 minutes from the ST bus stand. The hotel isn’t a five star but a descent one for travelers after all we need place just for the night. We got a room for 600 bucks on twin sharing basis, but later due to non functioning of the switches in the room we were shifted in a three bed room.

There are both AC and Non AC rooms here and the price is also quite reasonable. The best is that competition is bad here that all hotels have signboards outside denoting the rates. I like that; the customer can see the prices at the door step but has to get in the room to check if it is good. We checked almost all the hotels and the rooms they had to offer. The rooms were no big deal but good for travelers on the move.

Aurangabad city had building which we no higher than 5 floors, but the traffic is crazy here. Though there were traffic cops around, no one payed any heed to them and continued to jump signals.

We decided to freshen up and head out to explore the city, wasting no time. The best way to explore the city is either by ST bus or a customized auto rickshaw. In case of auto rickshaws let the driver know of the places you want to see before hand and then negotiate on the cost. Rickshaw rate are negotiable, don’t be surprised if he charges you Rs.60 as waiting charge. This charge you pay over and above the rate you negotiated with the driver.

We were charged Rs .60 hence we know.

After making inquiries at the hotel reception in regards to the best possible way to explore the city. We clubbed most places together. We then headed to the ST bus stand to find a bus to take us to these places.

Buses ply to these places but have fixed timings and we had loads of places on our agenda. We then opted for an auto rickshaw as we could save on travelling time that way.

Outside the ST bus stand we found many auto rickshaws that take you to the tourist spots here and charge a lump sum charge for the same. Plus don’t forget the Rs.60 waiting / hidden charge.

The rickshaw- wala quoted a fee of Rs.1000 to show us Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, Ellora Caves, Hanuman Temple, Daulatabad, Khuldabad, Panchakki and Bibi ka Maqbara which after heavy negotiation we bought it down to Rs.600. Rs.600 to see 7 tourist spots for the entire day is not a bad idea. Oops I forgot the waiting charge. Hehe

To read about the rickshaw ride stay tuned to the next post.