ATIT Reheated - Pune, Maharashtra: the Aga Khan's palace/Gandhi's prison where he lost his best friend and wife, but left behind his sandals and a half-pipe

By Jack Brummet, India Travel Editor



The Aga Khan Palace - click all pictures to enlarge

It was here, in the Aga Kahn's palace in Pune where Kasturba Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi's long time aide (whom he thought of as a son), Mahadeobhai Desai died. The palace that once belonged to the Aga Khan (whose son became the President of the League of Nations), served as lodging for the imprisonment of Gandhi and his wife Kasturba as British rule in India drew to a close. The Gandhi exhibits housed there are very homey and casual, and yet it is a thoughtful and moving collection. Seeing Gandhi's artifacts made him and that era resonate--we saw his cooking pots, letters and books, his sandals, photos, his Bhagavad Gita, even his bathtub, and a memorial with his ashes, in the garden near where his wife and friend's ashes are buried.

This is something to see if you're ever in Pune. This 1892 palace was built by Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Agakhan III and was donated to India in 1969 by Aga Khan IV. It became the Gandhi Memorial.

I loved this place. It was a funky and moving tribute to, as Lord Buckley called him, "The Hip Gann." The Mahatma's presence and vibes reverberated in the palace and grounds like a celestial choir.



A pretty moving story about Gandhi's close aide dying
within a week of their imprisonment. Click to enlarge.


A memorial where at least some of Gandhi's ashes
rest.




The curved brick wall we began calling Gandhi's half-pipe

A folky painting, kind of in the Soviet tractor style of propaganda art

The sandals Gandhi wore in prison

detail from a painting of Gandhi and his wife

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The last photos from India - the Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves, in the Aurangabad District (the same area where we saw the Ellora Caves) in Maharashtra, India are 30 rock-cut cave monuments created during the 1st BC and 5th century AD.  They contain paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art.

I skipped this excursion, so there aren't too many pictures (I don't take good photos, but I take a lot of them!).  I have not succeeded in getting one of my fellow travellers to write about them. 

Keelin and Colin with a monkey and someone who wanted a photo.

These next two photos were taken at the house of our driver (who ferried us out to the country outside Aurangabad)...actually his sister's house.  They were a large extended Moslem family

The sleeping Buddha, carved into a wall at Adjanta, and for perspective,
see the photo below, where the Buddha dwarfs Claire

In Pune, Maharashtra: the Aga Khan's palace/Gandhi's prison where he lost his best friend and wife, but left behind his artifacts and a half-pipe

The Aga Khan Palace - click all pictures to enlarge

It was here, in the Aga Kahn's palace in Pune where Kasturba Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi's long time aide (whom he thought of as a son), Mahadeobhai Desai died. The palace that once belonged to the Aga Khan (whose son became the President of the League of Nations), served as lodging for the imprisonment of Gandhi and his wife Kasturba as British rule in India drew to a close. The Gandhi exhibits housed there are very homey and casual, and yet it is a thoughtful and moving collection. Seeing Gandhi's artifacts made him and that era resonate--we saw his cooking pots, letters and books, his sandals, photos, his Bhagavad Gita, even his bathtub, and a memorial with his ashes, in the garden near where his wife and friend's ashes are buried.

This is something to see if you're ever in Pune. This 1892 palace was built by Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Agakhan III and was donated to India in 1969 by Aga Khan IV. It became the Gandhi Memorial.

I loved this place. It was a funky and moving tribute to, as Lord Buckley called him, "The Hip Gann." The Mahatma's presence and vibes reverberated in the palace and grounds like a celestial choir.



A pretty moving story about Gandhi's close aide dying
within a week of their imprisonment. Click to enlarge.


A memorial where at least some of Gandhi's ashes
rest.




The curved brick wall we began calling Gandhi's half-pipe

A folky painting, kind of in the Soviet tractor style of

propaganda art

The sandals Gandhi wore in prison

detail from a painting of Gandhi and his wife

---o0o---

Marathi, Maharashtra, India: The 34 Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Carved Rock Caves At Ellora

Like most of the best archaeological sites we've seen around the world, the Caves of Ellora are a World Heritage Site. Marathi: (वेरूळ) is an about 20 miles from Aurangabad in the Maharashtra state (which also contains Mumbai). I'm not sure how far this is away from Mumbai, but the flight here was only about 35 minutes on a 737 (so it is within a couple hundred miles).





[Note: The photos are not great--you are not allowed to use flash in the caves...and remember these are caves! And then, halfway trough, my camera ran out of juice and I was reduced to using a phone-cam--click all photos to enlarge].

These fantastically sculpted caves are a mind-bending example of "cut from rock" architecture. Everything you see is cut from stone. The caves and sculpture were cut out with chisels and other hand tools from the face of solid stone in the Charanandri hills. The 34 caves were successively built by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain groups.

These caves (not the sort of caves we think of in the west) were temples and monasteries, carved out many years from around the 5th to 10th centuries (A.D.). There are 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in a row over six centuries. Some of the caves took 200 years to complete...

Amazingly, each succeeding set of caves builds on the tradition of the previous ones--probably not surprising when you think of the amazing stew of hundreds of religions and sects that still exist (and influence each other) here. You find Buddhas in the Hindu caves; there are Ganeshes in the Jain caves. Some of the caves have two, three, or four floors. Not only did they carve out the caves themselves, but they also carved elaborate sculptures, friezes and the like on many of the walls. They also carved out elaborately decorated and sculpted columns--some of which remind me of Roman and Greek columns.

A couple of hours drive away are the Ajanta Caves, where Claire, Colin, and Keelin traveled to today. I will try to get them to post about these along with their photos. I opted for a cool day poolside (and feel deliciously guilty about it)--it's the first day I've spent here no tromping around for many miles in the blazing sun. It's probably my only chill day of the entire trip! Already, I am eager for more. We have several excursions scheduled for Udaipur (where we fly via Mumbai) starting mid-day tomorrow

Restoration workers on bamboo scaffolding. Not only is it bamboo, but it is fastened together with what is little better than very thick jute twine!

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