Ellora caves

Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 7 "India's Cultural Roots"

Meaning

The Ellora caves are a group of 34 rock-cut monasteries and temples cut into a high basalt cliff near Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Buddhist, Hindu (Brahmanical) and Jain caves stand side by side, and the site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1983). [4][5]

Ellora is where the Indian rock-cut tradition reaches its peak. Its Kailasa temple (Cave 16) is a whole temple carved out of a single rock, cut from the top downward. [5]

Explanation

Background: a thousand-year tradition

• Rock-cut means the building was not built up from blocks. Workers cut into a hill and removed stone until a hall or temple was left. There is no joint, no mortar and no brick.
• The tradition began at Barabar (Bihar) in the 3rd century BCE. Asoka had those caves cut for the Ajivikas, a sect of renouncers (people who gave up home and family life).
• Next came the Satavahana-period caves of the western Deccan, such as Karla and Pitalkhora, and Ajanta, which was cut with Gupta-Vakataka support. [2]
• Ellora comes last in this line. NCERT calls the Kailashnatha temple, carved in the 8th century, the high point of the tradition.

Main features of the site

• 34 caves spread over more than 2 km along the face of a basalt cliff. [4][5]
• Three religions at one site. In the usual count there are about 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu and 5 Jain caves.
• Most of the caves were cut roughly between the 6th and 10th centuries CE. These dates are approximate.

• Monks and worshippers of different faiths used the same cliff.

• Kailasa (Cave 16) is the largest monolithic temple (a temple made from one single stone) and the main Brahmanical cave. [5]

• Kailashnatha is a name of Shiva, meaning "lord of Mount Kailasha".
• Scale: about 50 m long, 33 m wide and 30 m high, with four levels. [5]
• Workers removed about 150,000–200,000 tons of solid rock. [5]
• The most famous panel shows Ravana trying to lift Mount Kailasha, Shiva's home. [5]

The new method: cutting from the top down

• Older caves were dug horizontally into a cliff face, so they were dark halls behind a cave mouth.
• Kailasa was cut downward from the top of the slope. [5]
• So it stands in open sunlight, like a free-standing temple.

• It has a tower, a hall, a gateway and side shrines. None of these was placed. Each one is what was left after the rock around it was chipped away.

• There was no room for mistakes.

• In a built temple, a bad block can be replaced.
• Here, a wrong cut could never be undone.

Results and meaning

• Religion: the main patronage moved from Buddhist prayer halls (Karla, Ajanta) to Brahmanical temple worship by the 8th century.
• State power: removing so much rock needed a ruler who could command labour, engineers and many years of work. That ruler was the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I. [5][6]
• The artist's voice: a copperplate records the chief sculptor's words on seeing the finished temple: "Oh how did I make it!"

Time, place and evidence

• Place: a high basalt cliff near Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The caves stretch for more than 2 km. [4][5]
• Period: about the 6th to 10th centuries CE (approximate). Kailasa belongs to the 8th century.
• Dynasty and ruler: work on Kailasa began under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (c. 756–773 CE). [5][6]
• Evidence:
• The monument itself: its size, its levels and its top-down cutting method. [5]
• A copperplate that records the chief sculptor's cry, "Oh how did I make it!"

• UNESCO listing and description of the site. [4]

• Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. [4][5]

Don't confuse with

• Ajanta caves: Ajanta is a Buddhist site of 30 caves above the Waghora river. It is famous for tempera paintings such as Bodhisattva Padmapani in Cave 1. Ellora has caves of three faiths and is famous for the monolithic Kailasa temple. [2][3]
• Ajanta Cave 16 vs Ellora Cave 16: Ajanta Cave 16 is a Buddhist cave gifted by Varahadeva, minister of the Vakataka king Harishena. Ellora Cave 16 is the Kailasa temple of Shiva, begun under Krishna I (Rashtrakuta). [2][5]
• Kailasanatha temple, Kanchipuram: that temple was built from stone blocks (a structural temple) by the Pallavas in Tamil Nadu. Ellora's Kailasa is carved from one rock under the Rashtrakutas in Maharashtra.
• Elephanta caves: these are Shiva caves on an island near Mumbai, and nearly all of them are Hindu. Ellora is near Aurangabad and has Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves together.

Prelims Hooks

• Ellora is in Maharashtra (near Aurangabad). It has 34 caves and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. [4][5]
• Kailasa / Kailashnatha = Ellora Cave 16. It is the largest monolithic temple, dedicated to Shiva. [5]
• Kailasa was begun under Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty (c. 756–773 CE). It was not built by the Chalukyas, the Pallavas or the Vakatakas. [5][6]
• Method: it was cut from the top of the slope downward, not dug horizontally into the cliff. About 150,000–200,000 tons of rock were removed. [5]
• Famous panel: Ravana lifting Mount Kailasha. [5]
• Chronological order of rock-cut sites: Barabar (3rd century BCE, Asoka) → Karla and Pitalkhora (Satavahana period) → Ajanta, second phase (Vakataka, 5th–6th centuries CE) → Ellora Kailasa (8th century, Rashtrakuta).

Mains Points

• Ellora shows that several faiths lived side by side.
• Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves were cut at one site, in one cliff.
• This fits the older pattern of royal support for many sects. Asoka gave caves to the Ajivikas, the Satavahanas gave land to Vedic scholars, Jainas and Buddhists, and Kharavela called himself "respector of every sect".

• Use it in GS-I answers on Indian culture as a place where different faiths coexisted.

• Kailasa marks a change in technique, religion and state power.

• Technique: cutting downward from a basalt slope turned a dark cave into an open-air temple. [5]
• Religion: the main patronage moved from Buddhist chaityas to Brahmanical temple worship.

• State power: removing 150,000–200,000 tons of rock under Krishna I shows a regional dynasty able to command labour, engineering skill and time. [5]

• It is the end point of a thousand years of change.

• It moves from a plain cell (Barabar), to a prayer hall with a rock-cut stupa (Karla), to a stupa with the Buddha and painted walls (Ajanta), to a whole free-standing temple (Ellora).
• The sculptor's line, "Oh how did I make it!", shows artists were proud of their skill, not only devoted to religion.

Related concepts

• Rock-cut architecture
• Barabar caves
• Lomas Rishi cave
• Nagarjuni caves
• Rock-cut monasteries
• Chaitya and vihara
• Bhaja caves
• Karla caves
• Kanheri caves
• Nasik caves

Read more

• The rock-cut tradition