All This Is That: rock-cut temples

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Marathi, Maharashtra, India: The 34 Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Carved Rock Caves At Ellora

Like most of the best archaeological sites we've seen around the world, the Caves of Ellora are a World Heritage Site. Marathi: (वेरूळ) is an about 20 miles from Aurangabad in the Maharashtra state (which also contains Mumbai). I'm not sure how far this is away from Mumbai, but the flight here was only about 35 minutes on a 737 (so it is within a couple hundred miles).

[Note: The photos are not great--you are not allowed to use flash in the caves...and remember these are caves! And then, halfway trough, my camera ran out of juice and I was reduced to using a phone-cam--click all photos to enlarge].

These fantastically sculpted caves are a mind-bending example of "cut from rock" architecture. Everything you see is cut from stone. The caves and sculpture were cut out with chisels and other hand tools from the face of solid stone in the Charanandri hills. The 34 caves were successively built by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain groups.

These caves (not the sort of caves we think of in the west) were temples and monasteries, carved out many years from around the 5th to 10th centuries (A.D.). There are 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in a row over six centuries. Some of the caves took 200 years to complete...

Amazingly, each succeeding set of caves builds on the tradition of the previous ones--probably not surprising when you think of the amazing stew of hundreds of religions and sects that still exist (and influence each other) here. You find Buddhas in the Hindu caves; there are Ganeshes in the Jain caves. Some of the caves have two, three, or four floors. Not only did they carve out the caves themselves, but they also carved elaborate sculptures, friezes and the like on many of the walls. They also carved out elaborately decorated and sculpted columns--some of which remind me of Roman and Greek columns.

A couple of hours drive away are the Ajanta Caves, where Claire, Colin, and Keelin traveled to today. I will try to get them to post about these along with their photos. I opted for a cool day poolside (and feel deliciously guilty about it)--it's the first day I've spent here no tromping around for many miles in the blazing sun. It's probably my only chill day of the entire trip! Already, I am eager for more. We have several excursions scheduled for Udaipur (where we fly via Mumbai) starting mid-day tomorrow