It is perhaps slightly surprising to find that Ajanta hasn’t yet been reviewed although coverage of India’s WHS on this site is pretty high. It is well worth a visit and combines well, in a journey from Northern India to Mumbai, with the relatively nearby and complementary WHS at Ellora. We got off a night train from the north at Jalgaon, took a bus (frequent) to Ajanta, spent several hours there (enough), bussed on to Aurangabad to overnight and then visited Ellora the next day - as fine a “pair” of WHS as you will find anywhere! Indeed you could have seen the WHS at Sanchi the previous day and that at Elephanta on the 4th –though that might be a bit greedy (and I think Aurangabad/Ellora justifies more time)!

I say “complementary” since both are religious shrines consisting of caves containing primarily Buddhist (but also moving on to Jain and Hindu at Ellora) relics. Ajanta is primarily famous for its paintings (but has sculptures also) whilst Ellora is all about carving. Ajanta predates Ellora so that is the best sequence to see them in – indeed it is thought that the later builders/artists at Ajanta moved on to Ellora in the 7th century.

I must admit to finding Ellora more impressive (see review) – yet Ajanta was more remote and better survived later depredations, being “rediscovered” by some British tiger hunters in 1819. The siting is rather fine (Photo) and if it is not too crowded you can imagine both the monks going about their daily lives and the British stumbling upon the caves from the top of the cliff. If you have read my reviews of 4 Chinese Buddhist cave WHS you will know that Buddhist paintings/sculptures do not excite me that much, but the vivacity of the scenes and the colours is undoubtedly very fine and the more worldly subject matter of legends appeals to me more than 1000s of Buddhas/Boddishatvatas (though there are plenty of these too!). It is well worthwhile having a good guide/book.