Sarnath Lion Capital Of Ashoka

Our happiness knew no bounds and our smile was plastered from one ear to another. After all, it was time for another childhood dream to turn to reality- visiting Sarnath. The place that houses the Lion Capital of  Ashoka aka Ashoka Pillar, the iconic National Emblem of India.

Sarnath is considered as one among the 4 holy sites that are related to the life of Buddha. This is where, after attaining enlightenment Buddha gave his first sermon. This event is known as the "the turning of the wheel of the Dharma."

At the end of 12th century, all the buildings and structures were destroyed by Turkish Invaders and the site now shows the ruined state of what was once a thriving school teaching valuable lessons of Life.

According to Hiuen Tsang, the temple at which Buddha used to meditate was 61 meters tall and we can now only see the remains of this temple.

One such ruin that stands tall at 128 feet is the Dharmekh Stupa and it is believed that at this spot the first sermon was conducted by Buddha. On this structure, we spotted intricately carved stones with geometric patterns, leaves, swastika and many others designs.

The Ashoka Pillar is a monolithic sculpture of four lions standing back to back and is entirely made of sandstone. The four lions represent power, courage, confidence and pride. The base of the pillar though still stand in the original place, the Lion Capital is on display in the Archaeological Museum in Sarnath.

Another master piece in this museum is the massive monolithic ten armed Shiva who is also sporting a beard. This sculpture depicts a fierce lord Shiva killing a demon and collecting his blood in an urn as it was believed that every drop of blood from the demon that touches the earth will give birth to another demon. Another striking feature of this fine sculpture is the weapons in Shiva's hands, especially the maze that is made out of human skull. One has to preserve this sculpture in their memory as photography is prohibited inside the museum and safe deposit lockers are made available.

The ruins and the site are maintained very well by ASI. The pathways are very well laid out and are a beautiful sight. These pathways are pretty much used by snakes as well to cross over and hide under one of the many ruins. So do not be surprised if you come across one.

Sarnath would be an ideal day trip from Varanasi as it is only 15 km away.

Aurangabad City Of Gates

When we think of Aurangabad, the first thing that comes to our mind are the sister caves Ajanta & Ellora but this beautiful city has its own charming history that makes you fall in love with this place. It had close to 52 gates during medieval times though only a few of them have survived the test of times. This place offers a lot to explore from Temples, Caves, Monuments to Museums, Textiles and Local Cuisines. It is a very pleasant, clean and traveler friendly city, the infrastructure is top notch and it was very appeasing and nice to see quite a few trees occupy sides of the road. To our delight, the footpaths were broad and free of any kind of encroachments.

We commenced our Aurangabad trip by visiting Grineshwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas, believed to be the last shrine or 12th Linga and is considered sacred among Hindus. The temple tower is made of red stone and the architecture within the temple premises left us awestruck. The carvings, pillars, paintings and statues are the highlight of the temple. Since it is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas, it is highly commercialized and people try to sell you one thing or the other right from the parking lot. Camera and phones are prohibited inside the temple and have to be deposited at a nearby counter.

Bibi Ka Maqbara is a mausoleum built by Aurangzeb's son, Azam Shah, in memory of his mother. This monument is an imitation of  Taj Mahal but fails to ignite the charm, aura and a feel of being lost in time.

The lesser known Aurangabad Caves are only 2 km away from Bibi Ka Maqbara. These caves are on par with the magnificent Ajanta and Ellora caves but do not hog the limelight. It would be a good idea to hire an auto or cab to visit Aurangabad caves as it is in the outskirts of the city and there are no other means of transport. If you want to hire an auto we highly recommend Mr.Krishna (9130194847) a very honest and thorough gentleman who makes sure that the travelers have a good time. He is pretty flexible, patient and informative.

Chatrapati Shivaji Museum tucked away in a small corner of Aurangabad is a must visit not only for history buffs but for everybody to learn more about this fearless warrior. Shivaji is very well known and respected widely for being a fierce warrior, great patriot and true liberal. Under his able leadership, our country flourished and thrived. He never differentiated people based on their caste or creed giving them opportunities depending on their skill set. Under his rule, women enjoyed great rights and were respected and honored. This compact museum lays down the legacy and artifacts from Shivaji's period.

As you enter the museum you are greeted by massive cast iron canons and huge teak wood doors. The museum is classified into different galleries exhibiting exceptionally well preserved armory - swords, pistol, barrels, canons, guns, lead balls, knives, daggers, Madu (deer horn) body armor. Artifacts range from portraits, paintings, oil lamps, candle sticks, religious importance items, extensive mughal era coins from Shivaji's period. spice box, stone and ivory sculptures, jewelry boxes. The best part about the museum is the wide collection of beautiful silver nutcrackers and 1600 AD Paithani Saree and shawl still in mint condition. They have an extensive collection of great manuscripts. The museum is very well maintained and is sparkling clean with each artifact clearly visibly through glass. The museum is closed on Thursdays.

En-route we saw a lot of handloom shops selling the famous Paithani and Himroo sarees. Paithani sarees - A Golden heritage of 2000 years, these pure silk sarees are completely handwoven with great care and fabulous artistic work. Silk from Paithan was traded for gold and precious stones ages ago. Even today, the work is handwoven in pure silk and silver. Himroo is also another traditional weaving art which is a mix of silk and cotton. This art is slowly fading away and efforts are being made by the government and weaving industry to keep this art alive.

Be sure to stop by one of the stores and check out the work. Paithani  silk weaving centre in Lokmat Nagar is the perfect place to shop and also see the weavers in action handcrafting every single saree. Government Of India, Ministry Of Textiles run a training centre for weavers here. The centre has sarees, handwoven exquisite carpets with 900 knots per sq inch, shawls, artifacts and the likes. It would be safe to say you could buy genuine stuff from this outlet.

Ajanta Caves, a World Heritage Monument, is not just known for its magnificent architecture but also for the elaborate mural paintings highlighting the life events of Buddha. Our Exclusive post on Ajanta can be found here.

Ellora Caves stand as a testimony for secularism with 3 different religions coexisting in harmony in the same premises. Apart from that, the mystery surrounding the architecture of these caves and the possibility of receiving help from extra terrestrial beings to finish the mind boggling carvings makes these caves even more intriguing. Our exclusive post on Ellora.

Trip to Aurangabad is not complete if one fails to visit the "Only Crater Lake In India" Lonar.

CIDCO serves as the perfect locality to stay, there are several hotels that fit all budgets and there are plenty of restaurants to choose from. To taste authentic Aurangabad biryani we recommend Karim's. Their Chicken biryani is simply amazing, it is a semi dry gravy mixed with rice and quite spicy. The chicken pieces are super tender and finger licking good. Apart from the most amazing biryani,  Karim's outlet comes highly recommended for its delicious Kathi Roll, mouth watering kababs and Kheema Pav. Another excellent biryani eat out would be this tiny place called Zaika, behind Naik college, Cannaught Place.

If you are a vegetarian we recommend 'Pakwan Thali Restaurant' at Jalna road CIDCO, specializing in Rajasthani cuisine. If you crave for Maharashtrian vada pav, Pet Puja outlets serve yummy vada pav.

To enjoy street food  and not count the calories, Cannaught place is an excellent hangout area. It serves best and clean street food. For the sheer variety that this area has to offer, it would for sure serve as a paradise for any foodie. The stalls range from Kebabs, Dum Biryani, Shawarma, Chinese, desi food and of course superb chaat. The best place to have chaat is 'Icy Spicy' behind LIC office. Their pani puri is a must try and of course you wont stop at one plate. They also serve pizzas, sandwiches and the likes. However, their stand out dish has to be their Ice Gola. They serve Ice Gola with 3 or more Golas, each topped with different flavors and is sinful. We also recommend Chatpata chicken kebabs at the Koyla Biryani joint. If you are a sweet pan freak, do try the different varieties of sweet pan at Sai Samart pan house.

While in Aurangabad do try out different varieties of 'Mastani' which is a blend of 3 fruit juices and topped with rich scoops of ice-cream. We ordered the one with extra dry fruits doused in colorful essences.

If you have a couple of hours to kill and wondering what to do, worry not the ProZone mall is a great place to hangout, it offers everything from High-end Jaguars to ice golas. The mall has a good food court with different cuisines to choose from. For adventure and sports enthusiasts there is Decathlon and for the movie buffs there is Satyam Cinemas.

We on the spur decided to watch a Marathi movie and were excited to read the synopsis of the movie Killa and immediately bought the tickets. This beautiful film captures the emotions of a young boy and is very well scripted. No wonder it won the National Award for the best Marathi film.

We stayed at Thrimurti Guesthouse, a budgeted place with clean rooms. The best part about the hotel was the helpful management. Their location is another plus as you have a whole lot of restaurants, shopping markets, CIDCO bus terminal and Mall all at a walk-able distance. To cover longer distances, there is easy access to autos at any point in time.

Lesser Known Caves Of India- Aurangabad Caves

More often than not these stunning monuments are forgotten and only its sisters Ajanta and Ellora are widely visited by travellers. Carved between Sinhyachal and Satara range of hills, these caves and carvings are on par if not better than Ellora Caves. These monuments still have their virgin beauty intact. The series of 10 caves are split into two groups- eastern and western, a kilometer apart from one another. These caves were carved between the 2nd and 6th Century.

Climbing a fleet of steps and you reach the ticket counter, a short hike from the ticket counter leads you to these magnanimous series of caves. The panoramic views of the caves en-route are breathtaking and so is the view of Bibi Ka Maqbara with the city in the backdrop.

Cave 1 and 3 are the oldest of all the caves, Cave 1 is an unfinished monastery with pillars that stand completed and the ceiling of its verandah has collapsed. The weak nature of rock formation hindered large scale excavations.

Cave 3 is the grandest of the caves here, portraying a line of devotees kneeling down with folded hands worshiping Buddha, who is seated in preaching position.

The cave series of 6 to 10 are a kilometer away and you can spot some partially carved stupas. Feel free to walk into the cave and see the raw beauty of it and compare the scratch work of this cave with the elaborately carved and sculpted ones.

Cave 7 is the best cave among all the caves. The square sanctum at the center contains a sculpture of Lord Buddha seated on a lion throne in preaching mudra.

The most surprising aspect was a sculpture of Lord Ganesh, it was beautifully sculpted and highlights the fact that religions could co-exist in harmony. It's the attitude and not the religion that creates barriers or differences.

Most of the visitors end up seeing only Caves 1-5 so do ensure that you follow the trek path that leads to Caves 6-10 as they are equally astonishing. A good pair of trekking shoes and a day pack is a must.

We highly recommend that you don't miss these phenomenal monuments. You will be lost in time and still not feel exhausted as these caves are hardly crowded. We were here on a Saturday and were shocked to see only 8 other visitors. We really hope that they receive their share of due credit.

Photo Tribute To Nalanda University