The Ajanta Caves are approximately thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotions through gesture, pose and form.
Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the largest rock-cut Hindu temple cave complexes in the world, with artwork dating from the period 600–1000 CE. Cave 16 features the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, the Kailash temple, a chariot-shaped monument dedicated to the god Shiva. The Kailash temple excavation also features sculptures depicting various Hindu deities as well as relief panels summarizing the two major Hindu epics.
Aurangabad (pronunciation is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the fifth-most populous urban area in Maharashtra with a population of 1,175,116. The city is known as a major production center of cotton textile and artistic silk fabrics. Several prominent educational institutions, including Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, are located in the city. The city is also a popular tourism hub, with tourist destinations like the Ajanta and Ellora caves lying on its outskirts, both of which have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1983. Other tourist attractions include the Aurangabad Caves, Devagiri Fort, Grishneshwar Temple, Jama Mosque, Bibi Ka Maqbara, Himayat Bagh, Panchakki and Salim Ali Lake. Historically, there were 52 Gates in Aurangabad, some of them extant, because of which Aurangabad is nicknamed as the "City of Gates". In 2019, the Aurangabad Industrial City became the first greenfield industrial smart city of India under the country's flagship Smart Cities Mission.
The Satavahanas, also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the late second century BCE and lasted until the early third century CE, although some assign the beginning of their rule to as early as the 3rd century BCE based on the Puranas, but uncorroborated by archaeological evidence. The Satavahana kingdom mainly comprised the present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. At different times, their rule extended to parts of modern Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. The dynasty had different capital cities at different times, including Pratishthana (Paithan) and Amaravati (Dharanikota).
Aurangabad district is one of the 36 districts of the state of Maharashtra in western India. It borders the districts of Nashik to the west, Jalgaon to the north, Jalna to the east, and Ahmednagar to the south. The city of Aurangabad houses the district's administrative headquarters. The district has an area of 10,100 km2, of which 37.55% is urban and the rest is rural. Aurangabad District is a major tourism region in Marathwada.
Junnar is a city in the Pune district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city has history dating back to the first millennium. The nearby fort of Shivneri was the birthplace of Maratha king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Junnar was declared the first tourism taluka in Pune district by the government of Maharashtra on 9 January 2018.
Pune district is the most populous district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The district's population was 9,429,408 in the 2011 census, making it the fourth most populous district amongst India's 640 districts. This district has an urban population of 58.08 percent of its total. It is one of the most industrialized districts in India. In recent decades it has also become a hub for information technology.
The Vakataka dynasty was an ancient Indian dynasty that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south as well as from the Arabian Sea in the west to the edges of Chhattisgarh in the east. They were the most important successors of the Satavahanas in the Deccan and contemporaneous with the Guptas in northern India.
Lohagad is one of the many hill forts of Maharashtra state in India. Situated close to the hill station Lonavala and 52 km (32 mi) northwest of Pune, Lohagad rises to an elevation of 1,033 m (3,389 ft) above sea level. The fort is connected to the neighboring Visapur fort by a small range. The fort was under the Maratha empire for the majority of the time, with a short period of 5 years under the Mughal empire.
The Badami cave temples are a complex of Hindu and Jain cave temples located in Badami, a town in the Bagalkot district in northern part of Karnataka, India. The caves are important examples of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya architecture, and the earliest date from the 6th century. Badami is a modern name and was previously known as Vataapinagara, the capital of the early Chalukya dynasty, which ruled much of Karnataka from the 6th to the 8th century. Badami is situated on the west bank of a man-made lake ringed by an earthen wall with stone steps; it is surrounded on the north and south by forts built in later times. These caves were discovered by Stella Kramrisch in 1924.
Indian rock-cut architecture is more various and found in greater abundance in that country than any other form of rock-cut architecture around the world. Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid natural rock. Rock that is not part of the structure is removed until the only rock left makes up the architectural elements of the excavated interior. Indian rock-cut architecture is mostly religious in nature.
Bhaja Caves is a group of 22 rock-cut caves dating back to the 2nd century BC located in the city of Pune, India. The caves are 400 feet above the village of Bhaja, on an important ancient trade route running from the Arabian Sea eastward into the Deccan Plateau. The inscriptions and the cave temple are protected as a Monument of National Importance, by the Archaeological Survey of India per Notification No. 2407-A. It belongs to the Early Buddhist schools in Maharashtra. The caves have a number of stupas, one of their significant features. The most prominent excavation is its chaitya, a good example of the early development of this form from wooden architecture, with a vaulted horseshoe ceiling. Its vihara has a pillared verandah in front and is adorned with unique reliefs. These caves are notable for their indications of the awareness of wooden architecture. The carvings prove that tabla – a percussion instrument – was used in India for at least 2300 years, disproving the centuries-held belief that the tabla was introduced to India by outsiders or from Turko-Arab. The carving shows a woman playing tabla and another woman, performing dance.
Shivajinagar is an suburb of the city of Pune, India.
Maharashtra is a state in the western region of India. It is India's second-most populous state and third-largest state by area. The region that comprises the state has a long history dating back to ca. 1300–700 BCE, although the present-day state was not established until 1960 CE.
Maharashtra state in India is known for its Famous caves and cliffs. It is said that the varieties found in Maharashtra are wider than the caves and rock-cut architecture found in the rock cut areas of Egypt, Assyria, Persia and Greece. The Buddhist monks first started these caves in the 2nd century BC, in search of serene and peaceful environment for meditation, and they found these caves on the hillsides.
Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia was an Indian Sanskrit scholar and archaeologist specialising in proto- and ancient Indian history. He is considered to have pioneered archaeological excavation techniques in India, with several significant discoveries from the prehistoric period to his credit. Sankalia received the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak award in 1966. And also received Padma Bhushan in the year 1974.
Kuda Caves are located in the small village of Kuda, on the eastern side of the north shore of Murud-Janjira in south Konkan, India. These fifteen Buddhist caves are small, simple, and were excavated in first century BCE.
Junagadh Buddhist Cave Groups are located in Junagadh district of the Indian state of Gujarat. These caves group includes Uparkot Caves, Khapra Kodiya Caves and Baba Pyare Caves. The so-called "Buddhist Caves" are not actually caves, but three separate sites of rooms carved out of stone to be used as monks' quarters. These caves were carved starting from Emperor Ashoka's period up to 1st–4th century AD.
There are two sets of Buddhist caves in two different places taking the name of Shana caves.
The Trivikrama Temple, also named Ter Temple, is a temple of Vamana in Ter, Maharashtra. Henry Cousens, followed by most later writers, believed that it was originally a Buddhist temple, however in 1957 M. S. Mate disputed this view.
