How would you feel if you go on tiger hunting and end up stumbling upon a treasure trove…
Ask John Smith, the British army officer from the Madras regiment, who first noticed a two millenia old unusual archway, that of Chaitya at Cave 10 of Ajanta, while on his tiger trail during April 1819. (Don't worry... Your Mathematics is Ok.. these caves were started 200 years before Christ..)
If the discovery of Ajanta sounded like an Indiana Jones adventure, the hazy history shrouding its establishment and existence along with the perpetual jinx on its conservation efforts, rivals an Alfred Hitchcock Mystery. The discovery of these caves did more harm than good for the paintings. Because curious tourists arriving in droves to take a peek at still fresh paintings a century ago came with large Oil lamps, emanating black soot, which started the darkening of the paintings. Efforts by one Major Robert Gill was commendable as he camped in these caves for 20 years (1844 – 63) to take hand made copies and have it sent to England. They were spoiled by a fire at the museum where they were housed. A second attempt by Mr.John Griffiths, then principal of Bombay school of Arts, spending 13 years to replicate the paintings produced no different results. The copies were destroyed in a fire, for the second time. A Japanese team from Kyoto University arrived at 1918 to try their luck. Their copies, made by pressing wet rice papers against the originals, lasted less than 2 years as they were destroyed in an Earth Quake !! Efforts by Nizam of Hyderabad, done in good intentions to restore the paintings back fired, as they injected casein to fix the peeling paintings back to their wall, except that it did the opposite. Wisdom of Griffith’s team from Bombay to shine the paintings by applying shellac, proved fatal in the long run as most of the paintings were darkened due to this. And ASI is now doing its best to restore them. Poooh...
The disadvantage I had when I visited Ajanta, (unlike my Ellora visit, where the Hindu sculptures needed no introduction to understand) is that I lacked any insight into what Buddhism is. Because each and every thing that you see in Ajanta is esoteric with the religion that I found them to be Greek and Latin (Or should I say Pali and Sanskrit :-) ). The only insight I had prior to my visit was, the basic life history of Buddha which I’ve read in my school days. For instance, why is Buddha Omni presently seated in the “Dharma Chakra Pravartana Mudra” (or the teaching position) is something you will ask yourself when you visit this place. The presence of this particular posture of Buddha is so pre-dominant that without any insight into the religion, I was a bit mischievous to think that, the task master must have given impositions to the most naughty Bikshu to carve this a thousand times all over!! Excuse me, but the real answer lies in understanding basics of Buddhism.. I am no qualified to explain you these. Its just my basic crude understanding in hindsight (by reading Wikis!) combined with my Guide for the day's explanation, that follows. My apologies if I distort the truth or made it appear too casual.
First enlightenment to hit me hard was, you and me and everyone can be a Buddha, if and when we ‘realize’ the ultimate happiness in life (aka ‘nirvana’). This ultimate enlightment cannot be taught or conveyed or explained. It has to be experienced self. It was ‘Gautama Siddhartha’ or “The” Buddha as we’ve known him, who attained the nirvana first. He wanted to share the secret of how he achieved it and hence he also defined the path which everyone could follow to achieve it. (Remember he didn’t teach about the ultimate prize, he only taught about the path to get there. i.e., No turn-key to success or shortcuts.. you have to endure the same mystic path by mastering the whole syllabus first). A more defining example of 'Bottom-up' approach could not be found elsewhere other than in the fundamentals of Buddhism. Its an approach where you start with what you have and go up the chain to find out the solution (as opposed to the 'Top-Down' approach where you know what you need to achieve and break it down further).
Siddhartha didn't have any mission in life except that he was Suffering and he wanted to get rid of it. But he didn’t know how. So he started with what he had. The only initial realization he had was ‘Life is full of sufferings’ (Can any one of you reading this, put your hand on heart and say you don’t have problems in life.?). So he pondered about the cause of all sufferings and found out its due to craving and attraction or the ‘want’ factor (I want my son to be like this, husband/ wife to be like this, Boss to be like this, house to be like this, salary to be like this, relatives to be like this, traffic to be like this); He didn’t stop his root cause analysis there and went one level up.. The Craving and wanting is due to ‘Ignorance’ (what am I chasing behind) and this ignorance can be ‘solved’ by practicing a noble eight fold path (such as right thoughts, right deeds, right speech, right livelihood etc). And you have to first become a ‘Bodhisattva’ or a state where you commit yourself totally to become a Buddha. And Buddha-hood cannot be obtained in one life and you have to reincarnate as many Bodhisattva in as many lives to finally become a Buddha.
So the chain goes like: Sufferings--> Due to Attraction-->Due to Ignorance--> Which can be solved. And he suggested a ‘Middle path’ neither too indulgent nor too ascetic, to achieve this Nirvana or Supreme Liberation or Happiness. This is what, i.e., teaching people on the path to nirvana, is what “The” Buddha did for the most part of his life. These teachings form the basics of Buddhism and the “Dharma Chakra Pravartana Mudra” is all but the symbolic representation of this philosophy, which is the corner stone in Buddhism. It made all sense to me after this... If the foundation is not reinforced, the structure cannot survive on top....
May 18, 2007
May 13, 2007
Kailasa Temple: Part II - Through My Eyes
Until I visited Ellora, One of my favorite authors was Jeffrey Archer, for the way he cuts a long story short!! Now I shift my allegiance to the sculptors who etched the mighty Itihaasas of Ramayana and Mahabharatha into a crispy visual collage on the exterior walls of the mandap on the South and North side respectively.
And I thought ‘Relay’ is a recent concept in Olympics until I was welcomed by the grand sculpture as you enter the complex - two pair of elephants on both sides of the Gajalakshmi, bottom ones drawing water from the pond and passing it on to the ones on upper deck which anoints the Goddess with the water. The motion of the elephants in action is signified by the flutter in the water surface causing the leaves to float unevenly and the bells on the elephant swinging backwards due to their force in the forward direction (especially that of the bottom right one - And we credit Sir Isaac Newton who came a thousand years later for discovering 3rd law of motion..?)
Flanking the pavements below the porch that connects mandappa 2 with the main temple are the best contradictions of how a same person assumes different persona. On the east side is Lord Shiva as 'Maha Yogi', symbol of peace and serenity and on the west side is Shiva in his 'Rudhra Thandavam' (Rudhra = Anger, Thandav = Dance). Here too the aesthetic beauty of the sculptor kicks in, with Shiva reassuring his better half not to worry as he is in full control and is aware of what he is doing, by caressing her cheek with one of his hands. Positioning of these two right opposite to each other couldn’t be more poignant.
We were also Pioneers in equality, a fact signified by the Statue of 'Ardhanarishwara' in the north courtyard (Ardha = Half, Nari = Woman), where half of the statue is male (Shiva) and the other half is female (Parvati, his wife). This is an iconographic representation of how male form of life (Shiva) is inseparable from the female form (Shakti). The details in the sculpture are impeccable. The female half is delicate while the male rough. The jewellery on the female side, the hairstyle, the attire, the breast, the curve of the waist, all are expressed with absolute perfection and distinguishing with that of Siva.
An interesting carving in the south facing walls whose better account can also be found in Cave 21 is – Parvati stunning Shiva over a game of dice which he usually wins. Shiva pleading her to play one more time to settle the scores even and a rather lackadaisical Parvati, not enthralled by the offer prepares to leave as she wants to use her winning proposition to full advantage. What beautiful characterization of the male ego – not admitting the defeat easily and the female ego – enjoying the prospect of the male going in circles around her. Life hasn’t changed much in a thousand and half years !!
Also one of the most famous sculpture of the complex, Ravanna buoyed by defeating his brother deems himself mighty and shakes the Mount Kailasa in an attempt to carry it off. The chaos is beautifully portrayed. Parvati caught off balance, male attendants fighting by throwing stones down at the evil and the female attendants are frightened and one of whom even fleeing, some troubled saints fearing the end while the picture of Shiva and his loyalists symbolize composure and Shiva restoring order with merely pressing his right toe down and silencing the villain.
Other Stories include Shiva’s heroic efforts of killing the daemon Anthakasura, Shiva Playing the Veena, Ravana offering all his ten heads to Shiva, Kalyana Sundaram (Or Shiva marrying Parvati) ... All these sort of round up most interesting tales from Shiva Purana. There are also some rare anthropomorphic representation of - Rathi and Manmatha (the God and Godesses of desire), The Trinity of Rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasawati, The Mahishasuramardhini etc.,
Apart from the Shivite illustrations, stories from the Vaishnava schools are no less impressive. Portrayals of Vamana avathara(what a stunning display of story telling..!!), Narasimha Avathara, Varaha Avathara all from the stories of Dasavathara deserve special credit. The Short and Sweet account of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, with Krishna’s mischievous childhood at Vrindavan (especially the Govardhana Giridhari), repeatitive but complex Vishnu on Garuda, all of them and more gives him his due credit.
And I thought ‘Relay’ is a recent concept in Olympics until I was welcomed by the grand sculpture as you enter the complex - two pair of elephants on both sides of the Gajalakshmi, bottom ones drawing water from the pond and passing it on to the ones on upper deck which anoints the Goddess with the water. The motion of the elephants in action is signified by the flutter in the water surface causing the leaves to float unevenly and the bells on the elephant swinging backwards due to their force in the forward direction (especially that of the bottom right one - And we credit Sir Isaac Newton who came a thousand years later for discovering 3rd law of motion..?)
Flanking the pavements below the porch that connects mandappa 2 with the main temple are the best contradictions of how a same person assumes different persona. On the east side is Lord Shiva as 'Maha Yogi', symbol of peace and serenity and on the west side is Shiva in his 'Rudhra Thandavam' (Rudhra = Anger, Thandav = Dance). Here too the aesthetic beauty of the sculptor kicks in, with Shiva reassuring his better half not to worry as he is in full control and is aware of what he is doing, by caressing her cheek with one of his hands. Positioning of these two right opposite to each other couldn’t be more poignant.
We were also Pioneers in equality, a fact signified by the Statue of 'Ardhanarishwara' in the north courtyard (Ardha = Half, Nari = Woman), where half of the statue is male (Shiva) and the other half is female (Parvati, his wife). This is an iconographic representation of how male form of life (Shiva) is inseparable from the female form (Shakti). The details in the sculpture are impeccable. The female half is delicate while the male rough. The jewellery on the female side, the hairstyle, the attire, the breast, the curve of the waist, all are expressed with absolute perfection and distinguishing with that of Siva.
An interesting carving in the south facing walls whose better account can also be found in Cave 21 is – Parvati stunning Shiva over a game of dice which he usually wins. Shiva pleading her to play one more time to settle the scores even and a rather lackadaisical Parvati, not enthralled by the offer prepares to leave as she wants to use her winning proposition to full advantage. What beautiful characterization of the male ego – not admitting the defeat easily and the female ego – enjoying the prospect of the male going in circles around her. Life hasn’t changed much in a thousand and half years !!
Also one of the most famous sculpture of the complex, Ravanna buoyed by defeating his brother deems himself mighty and shakes the Mount Kailasa in an attempt to carry it off. The chaos is beautifully portrayed. Parvati caught off balance, male attendants fighting by throwing stones down at the evil and the female attendants are frightened and one of whom even fleeing, some troubled saints fearing the end while the picture of Shiva and his loyalists symbolize composure and Shiva restoring order with merely pressing his right toe down and silencing the villain.
Other Stories include Shiva’s heroic efforts of killing the daemon Anthakasura, Shiva Playing the Veena, Ravana offering all his ten heads to Shiva, Kalyana Sundaram (Or Shiva marrying Parvati) ... All these sort of round up most interesting tales from Shiva Purana. There are also some rare anthropomorphic representation of - Rathi and Manmatha (the God and Godesses of desire), The Trinity of Rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasawati, The Mahishasuramardhini etc.,
Apart from the Shivite illustrations, stories from the Vaishnava schools are no less impressive. Portrayals of Vamana avathara(what a stunning display of story telling..!!), Narasimha Avathara, Varaha Avathara all from the stories of Dasavathara deserve special credit. The Short and Sweet account of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, with Krishna’s mischievous childhood at Vrindavan (especially the Govardhana Giridhari), repeatitive but complex Vishnu on Garuda, all of them and more gives him his due credit.
The reason behind embellishing the whole temple so lavishly with so many sculptures and with so much of details engrained in each of them is that, a vast majority of visitors a thousand years ago, would most probably neither knew how to read nor write and hence the pictorial representations. As one complete the tour, one really can't help but salute the valiant attempt of these master sculptors.
Just to put in perspective, the 'Gotthard railway link', a 57 KM long tunnel that runs through the Swiss Alps is slated to become World's longest tunnel when completed. It was started in 1993 and will be commissioned in 2015. Amount of excavated rock would be around 24 Million tons. The 400,000 tons of rock supposedly excavated for Kailasa alone is certainly no match to this. But then the Gotthard project employs four state of the art Tunnel Boring Machines measuring some 440 meters(1400 Feet) and wielding 5 Mega Watt energy (equivalent to 6700 Horse Power) that can drill about 40 Meters in a given extra-ordinary day while in Kailasa there were 7000 human labours using just hammer and chisel, for 150 long gruesome years. By one account, the Baroda copper plate (inscription dated 812 A.D) suggests that the Chief Architect of Kailasa of Ellora was happy to have completed the work in his own lifetime (thou' the temple is supposed to have taken some 150 years from start to finish). Man may invent a machine which substitues his body.. But the key question is, can he invent a machine that substitutes his mind and soul..? Can a machine be invented which can carve such sculptures full of life?
Therefore in all fairness, The audacity with which this edifice was Planned, The gut feeling with which the plan was Conceived and more importantly the Endeavour with which the conception is executed is the ultimate triumph of Human Imagination and Capability.
Finally, If you thought Six Sigma is the most sophisticated measure of error free benchmarking, you are bound to change your opinion once you offer a visit to Kailasa temple. Probably the title should go to "Shilpa Shastras" (The rules of statue making).
May 12, 2007
Kailasa Temple: Part I - See it to Believe it
As you face the entrance of the Cave 16 of the Hindu group of caves, you feel a sense of Ordinariness... "This looks like any other temple Gateway..!!".
As you enter the Temple complex, Ordinariness turns into Curiosity..
As you catch the first glimpse of the master piece, Curiosity turns into Bewilderment..
As you walk around the temple, Bewilderment turns into Disbelief..
As you finish your tour, you think this is surreal..
Am I exaggerating.... ??
When you see that, a wide gateway which conceals a three storied temple whose walls happen to serve the purpose of a gigantic canvass that hosts hundreds (may be thousands..?) of meticulously carved sculptors, Flanked by two self standing gigantic pillars (or Dhwajasthambas) scaling upto 52 Feet each, the temple's tall tower (Gopuram) measuring some 100 Ft, A sheltered Courtyard surrounding the complex which is also easily one of the most impressive art gallery of Hinduism anywhere in the world, and its main shrine, a massive hall measuring 55 Ft X 52 Ft- All of these is carved out of a single piece of rock, you will realize I am not.
How can someone even think of creating an island of rock mass by cutting grooves some 100 Ft deep all around from top of the mountain so that it gets seperated from its parent to become an independent piece of rock ? (Remember they are still connected at the bed rock) This island rock mass in the center is then chiseled top down (i.e., vertically) into the tapering 3 storied temple structure. This is called Cut-Out Excavation. Once this is done, they chiseled from outside to inside to produce the hall of the huge main shrine. This is Cut-In Excavation. Compare this with a constructed structure where the pillars are raised, Roof slab is cast and then the brick work is done, all different phases of work and the final space created by joining various dissimilar structures. Here too, there is a roof, there are walls around and there are pillars, except that all of them still happen to be the same rock and there are no joints what so ever!!
The greatness of this structure lies in the fact that, This is a proper temple strictly adherring to the Vaastu Shaastra and other rules of a worshipping place, in all accounts identical in every detail to a constructed one whilst it rivals the aesthetics and grandeur of the common breed unequivocally in the eyes of a beholder with no knowledge that all this is carved vertically down into the living rock.
My adulation reaches its Zenith as I wander through the sculptured corridor. Strength of Materials and the Breaking Stress are two concepts that I never understood, a main motivation for me not to choose Civil Engineering. But these principles has been mastered here 1500 years ago. The corridor of the temple has the largest Cantilever rock cover in the world. The Corridors are about 22 feet wide and their ceiling is as wide and has rock of about 100 feet thickness above. And the corridor runs around the temple complex (a rectangle of 276 Ft X 154 Feet) while their ceiling is supported by what ..? Nothing !! Its the remaining portion of the living rock that supports this mammoth suspension. How did they know how deep (horizontally) they can afford to carve in so that the roof of the corridor wouldn't collapse ..?
And interesting still, how on earth (Pun Intended..!!) did they make out that the rock that hosts the whole complex is in fact one rock ..? There were no Satellites, no Ultra sonic waves, nothing at all to test if a structure that big is inherently one single piece or not..? What if 100 ft deep, there was a crack..? or what if it happened to be made of two or more rocks as they uncovered the rubble of trees or while half way into carving..?
Was there a scientific assessment..? or Was it just Gut feeling ..? or Was it Divine Intervention?
I was shocked by the statue of Nataraja hanging from the ceiling of the main shrine. Remember this is not a statue made in the ground and mounted on top. The Statue is part of the ceiling !! What it means is, firstly in the rock ceiling of a room measuring some 2500 Sq. Ft, you have to mark a portion of some 30 odd Sq ft. Now leave that portion to jut out extra feet or two while you shave the massive ceiling of remaining 2400 odd sq ft by few inches with Chisel (and remember chiseling the ceiling in is no ordinary task as doing anything with your hands above your head is difficult let alone chiseling!!). And finally in the jutting out 6ft X 6ft canvass of rock of few inches thickness, you have to carve this figure of a lively Nataraja replete with expressions (Watch his face expressions.. He is in a trance due to involved dancing). Now imagine the Sculptor who did this. Akin to Tom cruise in Mission Impossible, he also would be hanging from the ceiling in his all fours, except that he is facing up and not down. And he is chiseling right above his eyes with all the debris and dust falling on his face… You would also do good to remember this is an horizontally excavated room with poor lighting (It still is poorly lit...) . There were no electricity or light bulbs either. So mostly the Sculptor should have used Metal mirrors to divert sunlight or just oil lamps. And if he makes one error, it cannot be erased... nor is there any second canvass !!
PS: Please bear with the poor quality of the picture. I told you it was a dark room.. What I didn't tell you is that I had an ordinary camera :-)
As you enter the Temple complex, Ordinariness turns into Curiosity..
As you catch the first glimpse of the master piece, Curiosity turns into Bewilderment..
As you walk around the temple, Bewilderment turns into Disbelief..
As you finish your tour, you think this is surreal..
Am I exaggerating.... ??
When you see that, a wide gateway which conceals a three storied temple whose walls happen to serve the purpose of a gigantic canvass that hosts hundreds (may be thousands..?) of meticulously carved sculptors, Flanked by two self standing gigantic pillars (or Dhwajasthambas) scaling upto 52 Feet each, the temple's tall tower (Gopuram) measuring some 100 Ft, A sheltered Courtyard surrounding the complex which is also easily one of the most impressive art gallery of Hinduism anywhere in the world, and its main shrine, a massive hall measuring 55 Ft X 52 Ft- All of these is carved out of a single piece of rock, you will realize I am not.
How can someone even think of creating an island of rock mass by cutting grooves some 100 Ft deep all around from top of the mountain so that it gets seperated from its parent to become an independent piece of rock ? (Remember they are still connected at the bed rock) This island rock mass in the center is then chiseled top down (i.e., vertically) into the tapering 3 storied temple structure. This is called Cut-Out Excavation. Once this is done, they chiseled from outside to inside to produce the hall of the huge main shrine. This is Cut-In Excavation. Compare this with a constructed structure where the pillars are raised, Roof slab is cast and then the brick work is done, all different phases of work and the final space created by joining various dissimilar structures. Here too, there is a roof, there are walls around and there are pillars, except that all of them still happen to be the same rock and there are no joints what so ever!!
The greatness of this structure lies in the fact that, This is a proper temple strictly adherring to the Vaastu Shaastra and other rules of a worshipping place, in all accounts identical in every detail to a constructed one whilst it rivals the aesthetics and grandeur of the common breed unequivocally in the eyes of a beholder with no knowledge that all this is carved vertically down into the living rock.
My adulation reaches its Zenith as I wander through the sculptured corridor. Strength of Materials and the Breaking Stress are two concepts that I never understood, a main motivation for me not to choose Civil Engineering. But these principles has been mastered here 1500 years ago. The corridor of the temple has the largest Cantilever rock cover in the world. The Corridors are about 22 feet wide and their ceiling is as wide and has rock of about 100 feet thickness above. And the corridor runs around the temple complex (a rectangle of 276 Ft X 154 Feet) while their ceiling is supported by what ..? Nothing !! Its the remaining portion of the living rock that supports this mammoth suspension. How did they know how deep (horizontally) they can afford to carve in so that the roof of the corridor wouldn't collapse ..?
And interesting still, how on earth (Pun Intended..!!) did they make out that the rock that hosts the whole complex is in fact one rock ..? There were no Satellites, no Ultra sonic waves, nothing at all to test if a structure that big is inherently one single piece or not..? What if 100 ft deep, there was a crack..? or what if it happened to be made of two or more rocks as they uncovered the rubble of trees or while half way into carving..?
Was there a scientific assessment..? or Was it just Gut feeling ..? or Was it Divine Intervention?
I was shocked by the statue of Nataraja hanging from the ceiling of the main shrine. Remember this is not a statue made in the ground and mounted on top. The Statue is part of the ceiling !! What it means is, firstly in the rock ceiling of a room measuring some 2500 Sq. Ft, you have to mark a portion of some 30 odd Sq ft. Now leave that portion to jut out extra feet or two while you shave the massive ceiling of remaining 2400 odd sq ft by few inches with Chisel (and remember chiseling the ceiling in is no ordinary task as doing anything with your hands above your head is difficult let alone chiseling!!). And finally in the jutting out 6ft X 6ft canvass of rock of few inches thickness, you have to carve this figure of a lively Nataraja replete with expressions (Watch his face expressions.. He is in a trance due to involved dancing). Now imagine the Sculptor who did this. Akin to Tom cruise in Mission Impossible, he also would be hanging from the ceiling in his all fours, except that he is facing up and not down. And he is chiseling right above his eyes with all the debris and dust falling on his face… You would also do good to remember this is an horizontally excavated room with poor lighting (It still is poorly lit...) . There were no electricity or light bulbs either. So mostly the Sculptor should have used Metal mirrors to divert sunlight or just oil lamps. And if he makes one error, it cannot be erased... nor is there any second canvass !!
PS: Please bear with the poor quality of the picture. I told you it was a dark room.. What I didn't tell you is that I had an ordinary camera :-)
May 8, 2007
Ellora: Renowned or Renounced ?
Ellora is not very marketable !!! Because,
Like Taj mahal, it doesn't have a dramatic story to back its existence....
Like Varanasi, it doesn't typify India's spirituality as the West would like to think....
Like Rajasthan and Kerala, its home state doesn't go all out to promote it as it's main source of revenue is definitely not Tourism.... And lastly,
Like Ajanta, its name doesn't start with the first alphabet and hence the taboo of always being referred second in the sequence as if its a lesser dwarf...
Whatever could be the reason, The nirvana that the structures standing here deserves a place first-among-equals can be obtained only if you walk down the same path taken by those eccentric sculptors some 1200 years ago and see it for yourself. Clearly Ajantha and Ellora, started as dark horses as Me and my Wife decided to visit them for a weekend retreat, with only my eighth standard history book (which I vaguely remembered to have emphasized their importance) as the jury to back my judgment. My kith and kin were not very amused - "Isn’t Goa a better choice?". Add to that, the Indian summer roasting you down at 44 C (112 F) with the dry & dusty May heat of Deccan - clearly we were up against the odds. But if Eskimos can brave the Pole, Arabs the Dessert, Dutch the Sea, Tibetans the Altitude, why not Indians the Sun ?? Out came the caps and the shades from long forgotten boxes perched on high lofts. We decided to have a taste of Extreme Living and headed west..!! In the couple of days that followed, Water bottles became what Kavach and Kundal was to Karan in Mahabharath and with sun lotions all over I had to try hard not to look like Kumara Sangakkara !!
(But in hindsight it actually worked for our advantage, what with little crowds at the caves even allowing us to mediate in serenity for few moments in otherwise most sought after chaotic caves, off-season steals in curios, relaxed guides who were willing to spend the whole day with you as opposed to the lone hour they would have spent with you rather hasty and reluctant in the peak season)
I am sure you always remembered Ellora as the Siamese Twin of Ajantha where as in reality they are a good 100 Kms apart and has got little to do with each other. So what’s great about Ellora.. ?
There are two types of structures in this world. One is putting together pieces of materials and creating living space. They are called "buildings" and the basic idea is to "Construct"; we see them everywhere and live and work in one. The other one defies your common sense and flies in the face. They are called the "Excavated" ones, where you remove pieces out of a single pre-existing structure and deform it to create the living space. They are called 'monolithic' edifices (Mono = Single, lith = rock) and the basic idea is: "Destruct to Construct" . So Ellora is full of monoliths where structures are made by cutting from and across stand-alone large living rocks (er.. why don't I simply call it a 'mountain'!!) The big deal is that, If you make a mistake during "Construction", you can reconstruct it. But if you make a mistake while "destructing" – a mistake more easier to commit going by the nature of the job - there is no rollback; You simply have to live with the bane of being an imperfect structure if the blemish is not catastrophic and if it is, just abandon all your dogged efforts thus far and choose an alternate rock. And what if that single rock happen to measure some 100 meters long (330 Feet) , 60 meters wide (200 Feet) and some 30 meters tall (100 feet)
Welcome to The Kailasa Temple at Ellora.. The largest monolithic structure in the world!!
Like Taj mahal, it doesn't have a dramatic story to back its existence....
Like Varanasi, it doesn't typify India's spirituality as the West would like to think....
Like Rajasthan and Kerala, its home state doesn't go all out to promote it as it's main source of revenue is definitely not Tourism.... And lastly,
Like Ajanta, its name doesn't start with the first alphabet and hence the taboo of always being referred second in the sequence as if its a lesser dwarf...
Whatever could be the reason, The nirvana that the structures standing here deserves a place first-among-equals can be obtained only if you walk down the same path taken by those eccentric sculptors some 1200 years ago and see it for yourself. Clearly Ajantha and Ellora, started as dark horses as Me and my Wife decided to visit them for a weekend retreat, with only my eighth standard history book (which I vaguely remembered to have emphasized their importance) as the jury to back my judgment. My kith and kin were not very amused - "Isn’t Goa a better choice?". Add to that, the Indian summer roasting you down at 44 C (112 F) with the dry & dusty May heat of Deccan - clearly we were up against the odds. But if Eskimos can brave the Pole, Arabs the Dessert, Dutch the Sea, Tibetans the Altitude, why not Indians the Sun ?? Out came the caps and the shades from long forgotten boxes perched on high lofts. We decided to have a taste of Extreme Living and headed west..!! In the couple of days that followed, Water bottles became what Kavach and Kundal was to Karan in Mahabharath and with sun lotions all over I had to try hard not to look like Kumara Sangakkara !!
(But in hindsight it actually worked for our advantage, what with little crowds at the caves even allowing us to mediate in serenity for few moments in otherwise most sought after chaotic caves, off-season steals in curios, relaxed guides who were willing to spend the whole day with you as opposed to the lone hour they would have spent with you rather hasty and reluctant in the peak season)
I am sure you always remembered Ellora as the Siamese Twin of Ajantha where as in reality they are a good 100 Kms apart and has got little to do with each other. So what’s great about Ellora.. ?
There are two types of structures in this world. One is putting together pieces of materials and creating living space. They are called "buildings" and the basic idea is to "Construct"; we see them everywhere and live and work in one. The other one defies your common sense and flies in the face. They are called the "Excavated" ones, where you remove pieces out of a single pre-existing structure and deform it to create the living space. They are called 'monolithic' edifices (Mono = Single, lith = rock) and the basic idea is: "Destruct to Construct" . So Ellora is full of monoliths where structures are made by cutting from and across stand-alone large living rocks (er.. why don't I simply call it a 'mountain'!!) The big deal is that, If you make a mistake during "Construction", you can reconstruct it. But if you make a mistake while "destructing" – a mistake more easier to commit going by the nature of the job - there is no rollback; You simply have to live with the bane of being an imperfect structure if the blemish is not catastrophic and if it is, just abandon all your dogged efforts thus far and choose an alternate rock. And what if that single rock happen to measure some 100 meters long (330 Feet) , 60 meters wide (200 Feet) and some 30 meters tall (100 feet)
Welcome to The Kailasa Temple at Ellora.. The largest monolithic structure in the world!!
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