Detail of Kailash Temple
Ellora Caves,Rashtrakuta Dynasty,8th Century CE
If there is a marvellous piece of human engineering, it is at Ajanta and Ellora Caves near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. While in Ajanta, the architects have carved caves into the mountain, in Ellora an entire slice of the mountain has been carved leaving a free standing Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva--the Kailash Temple. In the picture you can see the original mountain in the background and the carved out building in the foreground.
Carving a building out of a mountain is a herculean task. Firstly the building is not being constructed from foundation upward to the ceiling --as is done in conventional method of constructing a house or an apartment building. In fact the carving begins from top to bottom. Therefore, the construction is reversed. Secondly, although the building and sculptures may be planned, but while chiselling away the stone, or while tunnelling into the mountain there is no way of finding out what lies inside the mountain. Rocks might be missing, they may not be of the right size for sculpting an image. Thirdly, in the 8th Century one had neither electric drill, nor dinomite, nor remote sensing devices, nor computers to analyse the mountain or to blow up parts of it. The labour had to chip it away with hammar and chisel. The sheer amount of rock to be carved and carted away is mind boggling!
Additionally, besides the main temple there are three huge caves and a long ambulatory. There is also a free standing pillar and a free standing image of an elephant. No wonder the Ellora Caves took two hundred years to be carved out. One wonders how the designs of the original architect were communicated to the generation of architects who followed?
Ironically, although Ellora Caves are a triumph of Indian engineering, of Indian aesthetics, yet the monument is not considered one of the wonders of the world. We voted for the Taj, but not for either Ajanta or Ellora. Sadly, we fleetingly mention Ellora Caves in our history books.
Nice Post. According to a medieval Marathi legend, the local king suffers from a severe disease. His queen prays to the god Ghrishneshwar (Shiva) at Elapura for his recovery. She vows to construct a temple if her wish is granted, and makes a promise to observe fast until she can see the top of this temple. After a while, the king got cured and wanted to fulfill the vow of his queen but multiple architects shook their heads saying that it will take months to construct a temple complete with the top. But, there was this one architect Kokasa who assures the king and starts building the
ReplyDeleteKailash temple from the top and was able to finish it within a week.