Ellora Caves India

Monument. By cruisingindia.com on Mar 25, 2006.

One of the finest examples of rock cut architecture and amalgam of Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina styles is found in the Ellora caves, around thirty kilometers from Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra in India. Hewn out of solid basalt rock face is a complex of temples, shrines, monasteries, halls and galleries over a period of several centuries from 600 AD to 1000 AD. It is situated on the ancient North-South route of Dakshinapatha.

Ellora Caves Layout and Architecture

The Ellora caves are thirty-four in number. The twelve caves to the South are Buddhist, the seventeen in the center are dedicated to Hinduism, and the five caves to the North are Jaina in origin. The thirty-four caves can also be divided according to their time periods. The Buddhist came first from 200 BC to 600 AD, Hindu from 500 to 900 AD and Jaina, 800 to 1000 AD. The existence of these three religious elements reveals the religious tolerance prevalent in that period in India.

The Buddhist Caves

The Buddhist caves were the first to be carved out. These consist of mainly Vicars, or monasteries, which are multistoried buildings meant for lodging, rest and prayer. Some of these viharas have shrines and carvings of Bodhisattvas, or incarnations of Lord Buddha. The first three caves are lofty pillared halls with carved Buddha statues on a large scale. The most famous cave is Cave Ten, a Chaitya Hall, or prayer hall, called the Viswakarma Hall or Carpenter Hall. Viswakarma is the God of Carpenters and architects. Beyond its multistory entry is a cathedral like hall and at the heart of this cave is a fifteen foot statue of Lord Buddha in a sitting posture. The Buddhist caves belong mostly to the Mahayana phase and, as such, the caves contain some of the most vivid sculptures and pictures of Buddha and his life stories. Among the viharas, cave five is the largest. But the most impressive viharas is the three-storied cave twelve called Tin Tala. It has a large open court, which leads to a huge monastery. Tin Tala has a rather plane edifice with unadorned pillars and sculptured panels on the inner walls. But its historic value lies in the fact that human hands fashioned a three-storied building from solid rock with such painstaking skill to produce such smooth floors and ceiling. Tin Tala cave is a spacious monastery cum chapel with enough cells to house forty monks. It dates to the Rashtrakuta period in 8th century.

The Hindu Caves

The Hindu caves were constructed from the 7th century onwards and are different in vision and execution. For one, the temples are carved from top down. They are so complicated in design that they took several hundred years to complete. The crowning achievement of the Hindu temples is the Kailasnath temple, magnificent in scope and design. Believed to have started by Rashtrakuta Dynasty King Krishna-1, this rock cut edifice is regarded as an architectural wonder.The whole temple complex is carved out of a monolith taking over a century and hundreds of artisans to carve it. This structure is meant to be the abode of Lord Shiva and consists of a gateway, pavilion, hall, sanctum and towers all hewn out of a single rock. This free standing multistoried temple complex occupies a space double the size of the Parthenon in Athens. The Kailasnath temple took a hundred years to finish and involved the moving of two-hundred-thousand tones of rock.In the complex, a two-storied gateway opens to a U-shaped courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by three storied, columned galleries. The galleries contain sculptures and alcoves housing figures of gods and goddesses. There is an important figure in the courtyard. It is the sacred bull Nandi, a common feature of all Shiva temples. A living rock bridge connects the Nandi mandap, or altar, to the temple. The temple is a tall pyramid cal structure closely resembling South Indian temple architecture.The temples’ excavation must rank as an architectural masterpiece. Two great trenches some ninety meters long were dug into the hillside. They were connected at the deepest points by another trench fifty-three meters across. The temple was meant to appear as though emerging from a huge courtyard. The great block of residual rock, rising thirty meters was then carved into a three-storied Vimana, the main Mandapa, two giant Dwahjasthambas (pillars) and four sub shrines. Beginning from top, each layer of rock was carefully hewn into shape and decorated layer by layer, eliminating the need for scaffolding.The Shivaling and the Nandi Mandapa are built over a plinth 7.8 meters high with its surfaces covered by gargoyles and mythical animals. Two stories of corridors have been carved into the mountain, studded with alcoves containing a wealth of sculptures telling the stories from the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Most of the deities at the left of the entrance to the temple are Saivite, or followers of Shiva while on the right are deities of Vishnu or Vaisnavites.The two Dwajasthambas or pillars with flagstaff are notable. The sculpture of Ravana attempting to lift Mount Kailash is an excellent piece of Indian art. Other notable Hindu caves include the Dasavathara cave representing the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, and the Ramesvara cave, which has excellent figures of gods and goddesses.

The Jaina Caves

The Jaina caves are about a mile away from the Kailasa temple. They are the most recent of the lot, having been excavated during AD 800-1100. Of these, the Chota Kailasa, Cave Thirty, and Indrasabha, Cave Thirty-Two, are the most beautiful. Chota Kailasa is a miniaturized version of the Hindu Kailasa temple. Cave Thirty-Two houses a beautiful shrine with fine carvings of a lotus flower on the roof and a Yaksi, or Ogress, on a lion under a mango tree.The doorway to the Indrasabha temple opens in to a small courtyard containing a shrine, and the temple is itself a large edifice reached by a flight of steps and flanked by a dwarastamba, or flagstaff, and a huge elephant statue. Caves Thirty-Two and Thirty-Four contain large statues of Parasnath. The other Jaina caves carry the pictures of other Jaina Thirthankaras and even one of a seated Mahavira. Jain caves represent the flow of Jaina philosophy and tradition. They reflect a sense of strict ascetism – they do not believe in size, but in exquisite, detailed work.Cave Twenty-Nine, Dhumar Lena, is said to be influenced by the Elephanta Caves near Bombay. The Jaina Caves Thirty through Thirty-Four are massive, well proportioned, elaborately detailed, and mark the last phase of activity in Ellora. The most attractive feature at Ellora is the variety of carved pillars. The paintings of human and divine figures on the walls of Kailasa Temple are especially mesmerizing.

Ellora Caves Getting There

About thirty km away from Aurangabad, Ellora is today a World Heritage Site. It is open on all days except Mondays. For Indians over 15 years, entry fee is Rs 10 and for others it is US $5. Every year in the third week of March, MTDC organizes a song and dance festival called Ellora festival. The visiting season is throughout the year but the best time is between October and April.

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