A visit to the magnificent Ellora caves was illuminating in several ways, most of which were unexpected. We did however, follow one sensible course of action- we decided not to venture into the caves by ourselves, but in the company of someone who could enlighten us about their history.
We were privileged to have the services of a guide who seemed almost as old as the caves themselves. He spoke slowly and softly, ignored interruptions and answered questions at his own pace. The only time he raised his voice was to shout at tourists who; ignoring all requests and notices; clambered over the ruins of the statues. He was also a teensy bit patronizing, but we put that down to his venerable age and the fact that we were a group of 5, out of which four were females.
Condescension and age notwithstanding, there can be no denying that the grey-haired one knew the caves like the back of his gnarled and wrinkled hand. He showed us vantage points from where we could observe the carvings better.With the help of a small flashlight, he pointed out aspects of the statues which would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
For instance, this couple is enjoying a relaxed moment of togetherness- see how the man has his arm around her shoulder? The smiles on their faces?
Here he is asking her to give him another chance after having done something to annoy her, explained the venerable one with a twinkle in his eye. To me it seemed more like the guy was admonishing the woman for having flouted some archaic notion of patriarchy, but- whatever!
And so it continued. What seemed like an incomprehensible form in stone took on a different meaning just because he showed us where to look and what it meant. A lot of what he said could have been interpreted differently. It all depended on what one looked for. But we followed him obediently, content to accept his version of what the carvings stood for.
Another thing I learned from the venerable one was that to truly appreciate a sculpture, one has to stand some distance away and look at it from a certain angle. The closer you get, the less you see.
Isn’t that what life also teaches us? To step back and observe? To calm the monkey mind and just soak up what the universe is trying to tell us. There is beauty all around if we only opened our minds to it.
In the tumult of the usual selfie-crazed hordes, the chattering, disinterested crowds whose only aim was to pose hideously in front of the enduring grace and beauty of those stone sculpted images, our venerable guide gave us a glimpse into the thoughts and beliefs of the people that created them hundreds of years ago.
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