The Rock cut Caves of Ajanta

Government service does provide some unique pleasures and opportunities.I must thank the Election Commission of India which sent me as an election observer to Buldana (Maharashtra).

I saw the Lonar Crater, Aurangabad, Ajanta, Ellora and vast areas completely devastated by earth quakes.

Ajanta Caves

The rock cut caves of Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra represent the ultimate in this type of cave architecture.

The Ajanta caves are older of the two – being over 21 centuries old.

The Ellora caves are some 6 centuries younger.
Location

The Ajanta caves were discovered in 1819 by a group of British Officers of the Madras Army. The officers accidentally stumbled upon the caves hidden amongst dense vegetation and buried under debris.

After that, the Archeological Survey of India started excavations.
These caves are located in a thickly forested horseshoe shaped ravine in the Sahyadri hills, 3½ km from the village called Ajintha, about 105 kilometers from Aurangabad.

The Waghur river runs at the bottom of the ravine.
Period of Excavation

There are 30 excavated caves in Ajanta.Cave nos. 1 to 29 and Cave no. 15A (the last one was discovered in 1956, and is still not officially numbered).

They are located about 35 to 110 ft. above the level of the river.

The first Buddhist rock-cut cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C.

During the Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group.

The excavations of the caves were done in two distinct phases.

The first phase is called the Hinayana phase (referring to the Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism, the earlier phase, when Buddha was revered symbolically).

Actually, Hinayana – a derogative term for Sthaviravada – does not object to Buddha statues.
Cave nos. 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15A were excavated during this phase.

These excavations have enshrined the Buddha in the form of the stupa, or mound.

Cave no. 8 was for long thought to be a Hinayāna cave.

Now it is treated as a Mahayana cave.
The second phase of excavation began after three centuries.

This phase is called the Mahayana phase (referring to the Greater Vehicle tradition of Buddhism, which is less strict and encourages direct depiction of Buddha through paintings and carvings).

This phase is also called the Vakataka phase after the ruling dynasty of the house of the Vakatakas of the Vatsagulma branch.

None of the caves in the Vakataka phase were ever fully completedbecause the Vakataka dynasty suddenly fell out of power which brought the activities at Ajanta to a complete halt.
Two Types of Structures

The Ajanta caves consists of two types of excavations – viharas (monastic halls of residence) and chaitya grihas (stupa or monument halls).

Cave nos. 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 are chaitya grihas.

The others are viharas.

The caves contain paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art and universal pictorial art.

There are paintings on the walls in Cave nos. 1, 2, 16 and 17 that are clear and vibrant even today.
All the paintings in the caves are linked to religion and centre around the Buddha.

They illustrate events in the life of Prince Gautama Buddha; incidents from the life of the Buddha; and the Jatakas (stories pertaining to Buddha’s previous incarnation).
Frescoes and murals
The paintings are often referred to as “frescoes”.

But the proper term for this kind of art work is “mural”, because the technique of fresco painting has not been used in Ajanta.

The technique used to produce the paintings at Ajanta is unique.

It is unlike any other artwork found in any other civilization.

The paintings give us a glimpse of the life style during that period – hair styles, ornaments, textiles, musical instruments, details of architecture, customs, etc.

My recommendation

It is difficult to believe that the beautiful caves and the carvings in the caves could have been chiselled out of granite rocks only with hammer and chisel.

The paintings were also done with very simple and basic material.

A particular type of classical Indian art started and developed in Ajanta.

This style traveled with Buddhism to many other countries – Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, Bamiyan in Afghanistan, Tibet, Nepal, China and Japan.

In 1983, the Ajanta Caves were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

These are must see places for everyone.

The rock cut caves of Ellora

In my earlier blog on Ajanta, I have already written that Government service does provide some unique pleasures and opportunities.

I have thanked the Election Commission of India which sent me as an election observer to Buldana (Maharashtra).

This spell of duty made it possible for me to see the Lonar Crater, Aurangabad, Ajanta, Ellora and vast areas completely devastated by earth quakes.

The caves of Ellora represent the epitome of Indian rock-cut cave architecture.

Caves of Ajanta and Ellora – Differences

There are two basic differences between the rock-cut caves of Ajanta and Ellora.The caves of Ajanta were covered by vegetation and debris and lost between the pages of history.
They were ‘re-discovered’ in 1819 by a group of British Officers of the Madras Army.
On the other hand, Ellora was continuously visited by pilgrims, tourists and travellers, right up to the present day.

Secondly, all the caves of Ajanta are connected to the Buddha and Buddhism.
But the caves of Ellora encompass three religions – Buddhism, Hindu and Jain.

The Caves of Ellora

There are a total of 34 caves excavated out of the vertical cliffs of the Charanandri hills.

These comprise of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples and monasteries excavated during different periods of time spanning across six centuries.

Of the 34 caves:

· 12 are Buddhist caves – excavated during the 5th to 7th century A.D. (Cave nos. 1 – 12 at the southern end).
· 17 are Hindu caves – excavated during the 8th to 10th century A.D. (Cave nos. 13 – 29 in the middle, and
· 5 are Jain caves – excavated during the 9th and 11th century A.D. (Cave nos. 30 – 34 at the northern end).

The Buddhist Caves

The Buddhist caves are the earliest in point of time. They were excavated between the fifth and seventh centuries.

Just like the Ajanta caves, the caves here

consist of two types of excavations – viharas
(monastic halls of residence) and chaitya grihas
(stupa or monument halls).

 
Of the 12 Buddhist caves, all except Cave no. 10, are viharas – large, multi-storeyed buildings carved into the mountain face, which include living quarters, sleeping quarters, kitchens, etc.

The last two Buddhist caves, Do Tal (Cave no. 11) and Tin Tal (Cave no. 12) are viharas having three storeys each.

Some of these viharas have shrines, and carvings of Buddha, bodhisattvas
and saints.

In many of the caves, the stone has been sculpted to give the appearance of wood.

The most famous Buddhist cave is Cave no. 10, a chaitya griha (chandrashala) or ‘Vishwakarma Cave’, popularly known as the ‘Carpenter’s Cave’.

When you enter the multi storeyed entrance of Cave no. 10, you come into a large hall, whose ceiling has been carved to give the impression of wooden beams.

And there is a 15 foot statue of Buddha seated in a preaching pose.

The Hindu Caves

The Hindu caves were constructed in the beginning of the 7th century and represent a complex mix of creative art and execution skills.

The Kailash Temple, Cave no. 16, is the grandest and undisputed masterpiece of Ellora.
It is the largest monolithic structure in the world.

Construction of this cave involved removal of 200,000 tons of rock and took 100 years to complete.
It is a feat of creative human genius.

This gargantuan structure depicts Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva.
It looks like a free standing, multi-storeyed temple complex.
But it was actually carved out of one single rock, and covers an area double the size of the Parthenon in Athens.

All the carvings were done in more than one level.
A two-storey gateway leads into a U-shaped court yard.
The court yard is edged by three storeys high, columned galleries.
The galleries have huge sculpted panels; and alcoves containing enormous sculptures of a variety of deities.
Originally, flying stone bridges connected these galleries to the central temple structures, but these have since fallen away.

The main temple has a Shiva linga.
In front of this linga, is an image of the sacred bull Nandi.

The base of the temple is carved to suggest that elephants are holding up the structure.

Most of the deities at the left of the entrance are Shaivaite (followers of Shiva); while on the right hand side, the deities are Vaishnavaites (followers of Vishnu).

The temple is a splendid specimen of Dravidian art.
Its excavation was started by Krishna I (757 A.D. – 773 A.D.) of the Rashtrakuta dynasty that ruled from Manyakheta in the present day Karnataka state.
Krishna I’s rule had spread to southern India.

Therefore, this temple was excavated in the prevalent Dravidian style.
Its builders modelled the temple on the lines of the Virupaksha Temple in Pattadakal.

Other notable Hindu caves are the Dashavatara Cave, Cave no.15, which depicts the 10 incarnations of Vishnu; the Ramesvara Cave, Cave no. 21, which has figurines of river goddesses at the entrance, and the Dhumar Lena Cave, Cave no. 29, which is the oldest excavation and whose design is similar to the cave temples on Elephanta Island in Mumbai.

The Jain caves

The Jain caves are simple and reflect asceticism.
Compared to the other caves, they are small, but they have exceptionally detailed art work.

For example, Cave no. 32, Indra Sabha is a shrine with a very fine carving of a lotus flower on the ceiling.
In another cave, an imposing yakshini is sitting on a lion under a mango tree, laden with fruits.

All other Jain caves also have intricate details.

Many of the structures had rich paintings in the ceilings – fragments of which are still visible.

My recommendation

Ellora is 30 km from Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra.
It was known as Verul in ancient times.

Ellora is a World Heritage Site.
Its temples will always remind us that the rulers of those days were tolerant of all religions.

And that is the essence of Hindu religion.