MAHARASHTRA

Ajanta & Ellora Caves

The Myth
An interesting folk tale circulates among the villagers in the vicinity of Ajanta and Ellora. The genesis of the sculptures of Ajanta and Ellora has received a charming version in this folk tale. The story goes that long long ago devas, devanganas, gandharvas and apsaras resolved to spend a fullmoon night on the earth. Indra allowed them to leave the paradise on the condition that they would return to heaven from earth before the next sunrise. Devas and devanganas along with apsaras and gandharvas came to the earth. While descending from heaven they spotted the moonlit Ajanta and Ellora. Some of the celestials went to Ajanta and some of them came to Ellora.
The gods and nymphs danced, sang and played in the valleys of Ajanta and Ellora. They liked the spot so much that they forgot Indra's instruction to return home before sunrise. When the day broke they were still found playing on the cliffs and flanks of the hills of Ajanta and Ellora. This divine folly resulted in the transformation of these celestial creatures into stone images because of Indra's curse.

Ajanta Caves

Ajanta Caves served as an extremely important religious centre of Central Indian empires and, although located in hard-to access canyon, mirrored the political and social development of Central India.

First Buddhist caves in the vertical walls of the 75 metres deep (vertical wall is not that high, this height includes talus) Waghora River canyon were created more than 2,000 years ago. During the Sātavāhana dynasty in 2nd - 1st century BC early Buddhist monks did something what is hard to do even today - they managed to carve huge halls in the hard basalt rock of Deccan trap.

Zenith of Ajanta though came in 460 - 480 AD, during Vakataka dynasty. Then Indian stonecutters had to master art which was almost forgotten. For three centuries there were not created any cave temples in India and thus numerous people had to learn unique skills - to learn it in hard way, by doing.

Cave chambers were not just rough hollows - stonecutters made whole interiors with columns, doorways, arched windows - everything was made by hollowing the solid rock as if it was cheese. Even more - up to 6 metres high columns, walls, ceilings were decorated with amazing bas-reliefs; often the flat walls were covered with beautiful, colorful murals.

Layout was marked on cliff face and the works started from above and went downwards until reaching the floor level. Basic work was done with sharp pick-axes, then the cliff face was leveled by hammer and chisel. This hard work was done with a great precision. Largest spaces without supports reach 21 x 15 metres - slightly smaller than basketball field. But, if counting the supports, the halls are significantly larger - ancient stonecutters had quite good knowledge of structural engineering and with great skill planned the use of lintels and columns to create durable constructions.

Kailash Temple of Ellora

Kailash Temple is just one of 34 caves gathered together alone a two kilometer stretch of basalt rock cliff-faces called the Ellora Caves. In fact,  they aren't really caves at all, at least not natural ones. Possibly there may have been some kind of natural alcove or dent in the rock face before mankind in the 1st millennium got stuck in, but what we see now is entirely the endeavour of man. These are not caves adapted for worship, they are man-made caves, or more accurately, temples and shrines cut from the rock.

Nothing of the original temple was brought in from outside. All was created out of One, all is part of One. Nothing stands by itself. All is a symbol of the functions of creation. The Kailash temple is not just one of the many ancient sites the ancestors have left in what is India today. Officially it is a Hindu (Brahmanic) temple but it is more than that. It may well be one of the holiest sites on earth, a keeper of wisdom from long ago, a preserver of the lost knowledge of life. It is there for all who come and want to learn.

The Kailash temple was cut from the top down in a U-shape form, about 50 Meters deep in the back and sliding to lower levels on the sides to the front where there is the entry gate. Cut with what? With hammer and chisel? There are chisel marks along the walls of the rocks, but spiritual masters say, the chiseling was done long after the rock walls were cut and the original temple created. Were the chisels just use to straighten and smoothen the sides and carve out new galleries and caves in the enclosing walls? The mystery remains. How was it possible to cut down straight into this Basalt rock, dig a broad trench and leave a huge piece in the center out of which the temple shrines were carved, ten altogether? A rough estimation states that atleast 400,000 tons of rock was hewn and moved from the location inorder to build the wonder. And, that too within a span of 20 years of time. Don’t think that this 20 years is long. This means, a minimum of 5 ton rock has to be hewn in an hour. With all advanced technologies we have today, we cannot even hew 1 ton rock per hour !!!!!

It’s engineering blows anybody’s   mind. Men, chisels, and time collaborating to chip away a rock face, top down, over a hundred years, to create a fully-formed two-tier temple with a large interior, and elaborately carved. No room for error, no second chance. It is the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture over a thousand years.

Visitors who come today, can still feel the strong energy, as though their bodies are batteries being charged from the ground.