Ellora Caves, 400 kms travel from Mumbai
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Info >> Around
Mumbai
Festival
Every year in the
third week of March, M T D C organises the Ellora
Festival of Classical Dance and Music at the
caves.
Travel Mumbai - About Ellora Caves
Parts of World Heritage monuments are the Ellora
Caves located at about 400 kms from Mumbai.
These cave monuments were patronized by Chalukya
kings during 17th Century. The creative dynamism
of the artists can been seen from the sculptures
where they drew themes from the Hindu mythology
and transformed the rocks into a cavalcade of
God and Goddesses. The Ellora caves lay in the
lap of the Chamadari hills extending over a
mile and a quarter in the north-south direction.
They are situated 18 miles northwest of Aurangabad.
Ellora represents some three hundred years of
great experiments carried out by different faiths
with their very different iconography and structural
compulsions. Ellora first appears to the visitors
as an irregular ridge of rock, rising vertically
from the ground.
Travel Mumbai - History of Ellora Caves
Ellora caves are finest specimens of cave-temple
architecture housing elaborate facades and exquisitely
adorned interiors. These structures representing
the three faiths of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism,
were carved during 350 AD to 700 AD period.
The cave monuments of Ellora were chiefly patronised
by the Chalukya - Rashtrakuta rulers [7th -
10th century AD]. The kings and the mercantile
community willingly donated to the cause of
the temple building. Certain religious injunctions
and the ethical codes, prompting patronage of
works of the art, governed the rulers. The temple
building was considered to help the attainment
of worldly power as well as religious merit
and spiritual salvation. These cave shrines
are memorable for their invaluable contribution
to the enormous wealth of Indian heritage.
Caves and Temples
In total there are 34 temples carved out of
stone which can be divided into three groups
belonging roughly to three periods: Buddhist,
Hindu and Jain. Only 12 of the 34 caves are
Buddhist, but even these caves incorporate Hindu
and Jain theme, demonstrating the gradual decline
of Buddhism. It took over five centuries for
the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain monks to chisel
out these monasteries, temples, and chapels
and decorate them with remarkable imagination
and detail. These caves run North-South and
take on the Golden Radiance of the late afternoon
sun.
Buddhist Expression
Out of 34 caves, sixteen caves are the oldest
in the group carved in the 5th century. As one
enters these caves, one crosses graceful angles
and steps in a high ceiling chamber where a
15 feet huge statute of Buddha is sitting in
a preaching pose. The artist has tried an element
of surprise by giving them expression of wood.
Most of these 16 caves are viharas but cave
number 10 is a Chaitya. The style of carvings
and sculptures in these caves indicate that
initially the artist was going in for simple
decorations but later, as in caves 11 and 12,
he became more ambitious. The 10th cave has
an impression of wooden beams on its ceiling
and has a small decorated window, illuminating
the sitting Buddha. These caves are rightly
called the Vishvakarma caves. This cave is considered
to be one of the finest caves in India, where
life and religion go hand in hand. The amorous
couples play joyfully along the balustrade.
Step out of this cave and you come across an
upper gallery giving a view of the precisely
carved Naga Queen, the harbinger of monsoon
and the dwarfs who were the court entertainers.
The Buddhists believe that Buddha returns after
every five thousand years, thus the 12th cave
has seven images of Buddha depicting his seven
incarnations.
Hindu Outlook
The Hindu caves exhibit a totally different
league in terms of style, creative vision and
execution skills. These temples were built top
to bottom and the architecture of these caves
show that it required several generation of
planning and co-ordination to give it the final
shape. Cave 14 was initially a Buddha Vihar
but in the 7th century it was turned into Shiva
temple, where Shiva is depicted as The Destroyer.
The 16th cave in the group is one of the audacious
feats in architecture ever achieved. The idea
was to build Kailash from a single stone. Hence
it got its name, Kailasnath temple. The artist
then tried to give the structure, the shape
of a temple. The scale at which the work was
undertaken is enormous. It covers twice the
area of the Parthenon in Athens and is 1 ½ times
high, and it entailed removing 200,000 tonnes
of rock. It took 100 years to be completed.
The Ramesvara cave has figurines of river Goddesses
adorning its entrance. The Dumar Lena cave resembles
the great cave shrine at Elephanta and is dedicated
to Lord Shiva.
Jain Dedication
These caves show the beliefs of the Jains, and
their strict asceticism that imbibed in them
a spirit of non-violence towards all. They do
not carry the high voltage drama of the Hindu
or the Buddhist caves nor are they ambitious
in size but they balance these with their exceptionally
detailed work. The 32nd cave is a beautiful
shrine with exquisite carvings of a lotus flower
on the ceiling and an imposing yakshi seated
on her lion under a mango-tree. The ceilings
of this double-storied cave are also decorated
with paintings.
Paintings
Mural paintings in Ellora are found in 5 caves,
but they are preserved only in the Kailasa temple.
The paintings were done in two series - the
first, at the time of carving the caves and
the subsequent one was done several centuries
later. The earlier paintings show Vishnu and
Lakshmi borne through the clouds by Garuda,
with clouds in the background. The sinewy figures
have sharp features and pointed noses. The protruding
eye typical of the later Gujarathi style appears
for the first time in Ellora. In the subsequent
series, the main composition is that of a procession
of Shaiva holy men. The flying Apsaras are graceful.
Very few murals in the Jain temples are well
preserved.
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