Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

ARCHITECTURE

(with about 29 caves) are major achievements of architecture, sculpture and painting provide insight into Buddhist theory, prac- tice and religious expression in art. The early caves date from the 2nd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D, while the later caves are from the 4th century to the 6th century A.D. Cave 19 is fairly se- curely dated. The elaborate facade of the chaitya consists of a number of sculptures of the Buddha, delicately posed and beauti- fully carved which are the highest achievements of art. Among the paintings is the famous Buddha with his begging bowl standing before Yashodara and Rahula who asks for his inheritance. The most impressive sculpture is the figure of Buddha's decease, Par- inirvana, on the left side wall of cave 26.

There are other subsidiary sculptures in the cave. Some are 15 to 18 feet high. The most outstanding one is the depiction of Shiva as Ardhanari or half-woman. The right half of the figure represents Parvati and has its wide hip and full breast emphasized. One of her hands holds up a mirror. The left side represents Shiva and is straight-bodied with one hand resting on the bull Nandi. Surround- ing the figure are various gods, each on their characteristic animal mounts and above, them are to be seen flying gandharvas and apsaras. Another panel depicts the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. A third depicts Shiva as Gangadhara or he who upheld the river Ganga. Another portrays Shiva in an aggressive mood destroying the de- mon Andhaka. Around the perimeter of the cave, are a number of large reliefs depicting aspects of Saivite iconography all set in a programmatic way, depicting qualities of Shiva.

ELLORA

The culmination of rock-cut architecture in South Asia is found at Ellora in cave 16, the Kailasa temple, which is a complex with all the essential elements of contempora- neous free standing Southern type temple units including a Nandi shrine, gateway, surrounding cloisters and subsidiary shrines. General conceptual relations with the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal may be observed (as well as the Kalugumalai temple). The two stories are varied in plan (lower one is solid). The whole temple has been quarried, out of the hillside. The scheme of the temple is divided into four parts, the body of the temple itself, the en- trance gateway, an intermediary shrine for Shiva's bull Nandi and the pillared caves cut into the walls of the surrounding quarry. The lofty substantial base on which the temple is carved has, at first sight, the appearance of a ground storey. The deeply carved pan- els of this base are one of the most striking features of the temple. They consist of lions

Like the Chaitya, the Viharas were transformed during the Vakataka period by the creation of shrine areas at the rear of the viharas and they were elaborately painted which is described in the chapter on painting. Other important sites of Buddhist caves are those at Bagh, Kanheri, Aurangabad and Ellora. Cave architecture was especially suitable to the needs of the Buddhist sangha and among the 1200 cave temples in India, 900 are Buddhist, 100 Hindu and the rest Jaina. One of the early Hindu rock-cut caves is found at Elephanta (near Bombay) carved during the early Kalacuri dynasty (540-555 A.D) after the collapse of Vakatakas. The most notable is the great cave whose grandeur, scale, sculpture and architectural conception rank it among the most impressive of South Asian art. The cave temple on Elephanta island is cut from a chocolate brown fine-grained sandstone, a material that can be carved with precision and details. Three great pillared entrances allow light to flood into the pillared interior. The shrine, which contains a Shivalinga, also has entrances on all four sides so that light enters the interior of the sanctum. The four en- trances are guarded by huge sculpted door keepers. This triple conception presents Tatpurusha or the supreme form of Shiva as the central of the three faces. To the left in profile is the skull-crowned head of Aghora-Bhairava, or Shiva in his form of Destroyer. Balancing it on the right is the face of Parvati, the beautiful consort of Shiva. The heads emerge from the rock within a niche 10‘/ 2 ft. deep. The head and shoulders rise to a height of almost 18 ft. above a moulded base that is 3 ft. high. Like the doorways of the main shrine, the Trinity too is flanked by guardians measuring 13 ft. in height. The three gigantic heads convey perfectly the impassiveness and serenity of the supreme form of Shiva, the scowling mood of the angry Aghora-Bhairava and the youth and peace of the face of Parvati.

and elephants. The temple proper consists of a shrine preceded by a spacious pillared hall, with further pillared hills, giving the temple a roughly cross-like plan. Around the sanctum are carved 5 subsidiary shrines. Over the whole rises the stately shrine tower, reaching upto a total height of 95 ft. The Nandi shrine reaches upto a height of 50 ft. and has a pa- vilion 20 ft. square. On each side of the Nandi shrine is a free standing pillar 51ft. high. The walls of the Kailasa temple are entirely covered with scenes from Shaiva mythology and from the Ramayana. The Kailasa temple at Ellora is one of the last examples, and probably the greatest of the rock-cut architecture of India. The richness of carving with depiction of Shaivite and considerable number of Vaishnavite subjects lend dramatic effect to the temple in addition to the temple being enclosed within the mountain itself. One of the most remarkable reliefs shows Ravana shaking Mount