Ajanta Caves
Thirty Buddhist caves cut into a horseshoe gorge, with murals that are among the finest surviving anywhere in Asia.
About Ajanta Caves
Ajanta Leni was carved in two phases, the earliest from around the 2nd century BCE and the later from the 5th century CE, then abandoned and left to the forest until a British hunting party stumbled on it in 1819. What survives is extraordinary: painted narrative cycles of the Jataka tales, covering walls and ceilings, in pigment that has held for fifteen centuries. The chaitya halls — the great horseshoe-arched prayer halls of Caves 19 and 26 — are the form this site is known for, and the arch has been borrowed across Indian architecture ever since. Photography without flash is permitted; the murals are lit low deliberately.
Visiting Ajanta Caves from the hospital
Ajanta Caves is approximately 100 km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where several of our partner hospitals are located. A full day, including about two and a half hours of driving each way. We can arrange a car and driver, and if you are travelling with a recovering patient we will check the plan with the treating doctor first.
