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 :-)
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