{"id":4317,"date":"2013-12-25T05:41:22","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T05:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/?p=4317"},"modified":"2025-03-24T06:01:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T06:01:20","slug":"a-masterpiece-made-with-hammer-and-chisel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/a-masterpiece-made-with-hammer-and-chisel\/","title":{"rendered":"A masterpiece made with hammer and chisel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At a time when the world has become one huge concrete jungle with a great many number of skyscrapers and towers strewn around, there exists a place in our very own India, that has stunned even the worlds\u2019 most renowned architects with its structural perfection and intricate details. The fact that this magnificent creation was made using nothing but a hammer and chisel, is sure to leave a person dumbstruck with awe. This amazing aspect is just one among the many facts that speaks of <a title=\"Basalt monuments of St.Mary\u2019s Island\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/basalt-monuments-of-st-marys-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the architectural brilliance<\/a> of The Ajanta and Ellora caves, situated in the Indian state of Maharashtra.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7276 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ajanta-and-Ellora-Caves-in-Maharashtra-India-Unveiled.jpg\" alt=\"This photo \u201cAjanta_Ellora_caves-_Maharashtra,India\u201d @wikipedia from Yashasvi nagda made available under an Attribution license.\" width=\"1140\" height=\"668\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Being a hugely popular tourist spot since its discovery in the early 19<sup>th<\/sup> century, its creation dates as far back as 2<sup>nd<\/sup> century BC to 6<sup>th<\/sup> century AD. With 34 caves in Ellora and 27 caves in Ajanta, this ancient structure was carved into the hillside rock with the help of a chisel and hammer. Being in a century where a thousand and more equipments are used to build a single building, this feat is nothing short of astonishing. What\u2019s more is that these caves are as big\u00a0 as twice the size of the Parthenon, the world famous architectural icon in Athens.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Primarily built by the Buddhists as a place of residence and for the purpose of preaching their religion, the Ajanta and Ellora caves later were made host to Hindu and Jain carvings and paintings as well. The Buddhist monks made monasteries out of these caves and covered their walls with carved images and paintings that speak of the tales about Buddha and his incarnations. These wall engravings will narrate the legendary tales and happenings of that glorious era for all eternity. These caves also bear the pride of being home to the Jataka Tales that have been a part and parcel in every Indian\u2019s childhood for many decades.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe finest surviving example of ancient Indian art\u201d is how the Archeological Survey of India defines this enchanting place that has stood the test of time, as evidence to the exemplary architectural brilliance of our ancient nation that has made such a monument, possible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">These caves are definitely one of the <a title=\"India Unveiled\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/category\/india-unveiled\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">price jewels of our nation that will sing our legendary glory<\/a> through its dark depths and engraved walls for many more centuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a time when the world has become one huge concrete jungle with a great many number of skyscrapers and towers strewn around, there exists a place in our very own India, that has stunned even the worlds\u2019 most renowned architects with its structural perfection and intricate details. The fact that this magnificent creation was&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/a-masterpiece-made-with-hammer-and-chisel\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":6780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[87,3761,3764,3767],"tags":[4273,4274,4275,4276,4277,4278,4279],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17568,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions\/17568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}