The
gateway to the World Heritage
Sites of Ajanta and
Ellora, Aurangabad is named after
the Mughal emperor,
Aurangzeb. Lying along the right
bank of the Kham River, the city
offers its visitors all comforts and amenities in the form of
hotels, shopping centres and
banks.
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More about Aurangabad
Climate
Aurangabad has
extremely hot summers, with temperatures
touching 40 deg. celsius, wet
monsoons from Jun-Sep, followed by
cool winters.
Language
The main languages are Marathi,
Hindi and English (in tourist
spots).
In the city
are three museums housing the art
treasures of the region - the Sunheri
Mahal Museum, the
University Museum and the
Chhatrapati Shivaji
Museum. You can also while away the hours in
the pleasant confines of the Bani Begum
Gardens.
The first Buddhist cave
monuments at Ajanta date
from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. During the
Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries
A.D.), many more richly decorated caves were
added to the original group. The paintings
and sculptures of Ajanta, considered
masterpieces of Buddhist religious
art, have had a considerable artistic
influence. The 34 monasteries and
temples, extending over more than 2 km, were
dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt
cliff, not far from Aurangabad, in
Maharashtra.
Ellora, with
its uninterrupted sequence of monuments
dating from A.D. 600 to 1000, brings the civilization
of ancient India to life. Not only is the
Ellora complex a unique
artistic creation and a
technological exploit but, with its
sanctuaries devoted to Buddhism,
Hinduism and Jainism, it illustrates
the spirit of tolerance that was
characteristic of ancient
India.
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