‘‘Its excellence is beyond the power of description.’’— Pandit Bisheshwar Nath in his book ‘The History of the Rashtrakutas’ about the Kailashnath Temple
Younger son Anshuman reminded me that his first memories of the Kailashnath Temple are from a Satyajit Roy novelette. Yes, ‘Kailashe Kelenkari’, later made into a Bangla movie by Ray’s son Sandip Ray. Otherwise too, heard and read so much about the temple, we were expecting an spectacular structure. But, high expectations were somewhat dampened as our first look was a bit disappointing. It doesn’t stop one in tracks. It looked just another cave front, not very awe-inspiring. The entrance looked crude, unfinished and blocky. But once we entered inside, it was sheer wonder. Grand and mysterious.
Kailasha Temple certainly has a hidden depth, like a secretive beauty, waiting to reveal itself. Wonderful, intricate and fascinating. The exterior seemed incomplete and uncomplicated compared to the delicately carved and elaborate interior. The structure itself is an architectural wonder—created by excavating the Rock from the top down—Kailasha is a living example of sheer human will, endevour and the inner beauty. It is estimated that about 400,00 tons of rocks were cut and scooped out over a period of 20 years to create this exquisite monolithic structure.
Kailasha Temple certainly has a hidden depth, like a secretive beauty, waiting to reveal itself. Wonderful, intricate and fascinating. The exterior seemed incomplete and uncomplicated compared to the delicately carved and elaborate interior. The structure itself is an architectural wonder—created by excavating the Rock from the top down—Kailasha is a living example of sheer human will, endevour and the inner beauty. It is estimated that about 400,00 tons of rocks were cut and scooped out over a period of 20 years to create this exquisite monolithic structure.
The Kailasha temple was not built. It was is cut and carved from the top down in a U-shape form one gigantic piece of rock, hewn out of the Charanandri hills of the Sahyadri range of the Deccan Plateau at Ellora village (earlier known as ‘Elapura’).
The fact that Kailasha was once a huge chunk of rock is always lingers in the mind as we saunter inside. The cliff faces loom above, and we can clearly see quite a few chisel marks on them. At the base of the three rock faces are long galleries, carved horizontally into the face and supported by pillars, which were also part of the original carved-away rock.
The Kailasha temple—is just one of 34 caves gathered together on a two km stretch of basalt rock cliff-faces—known as the Ellora Caves, near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. None of these are natural caves; they all are created by men. The Kailasha temple is believed to be built by Krishna I (757-783 AD) of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. The main body of the temple occupies a parallelogram, 45m×33m, with sections of its sites projecting at intervals. It stands on a high plinth which is carved with sculptures of elephants and lions. The larger halls of the temples are decorated with images of Gods. The alluring 28.5m high tower of the temple is in three diminishing tiers and is crowned by a cupola. Around the base of the tower there are five shrines dedicated respectively to Ganesha, Rudra, Parvati, Chand and Saptamatri.
Some fascinating facts about Kailashnath Temple Complex:
• The carving was done from top to down digging a single basalt cliff rock and scooping out the cut rocks.
• The temple has largest cantilevered rock ceiling in the world.
• The temple is believed to be about 1100-1200 years old.
• The entire complex and temple structure might be created using only rudimentary hand tools. 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 an elaborately carved large interior. No room for error, no second chance.
• Work happened only during the day. The reflection of sun rays from mirrors was used as no other source of light was available. There are so many inner parts of the structure where sun rays cannot reach even after using multi-layered mirror arrangement. It is difficult to understand how delicate and intricate designs were carved in such places.
• Kailasha temple is twice the area of Greece’s Parthenon and 50% taller. But compared to other large Hindu temples it’s smaller.
• The facade may be rather plain, but the temple itself is filled with elaborate and delicately carved sculpture.
• The carving was done from top to down digging a single basalt cliff rock and scooping out the cut rocks.
• The temple has largest cantilevered rock ceiling in the world.
• The temple is believed to be about 1100-1200 years old.
• The entire complex and temple structure might be created using only rudimentary hand tools. 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 an elaborately carved large interior. No room for error, no second chance.
• Work happened only during the day. The reflection of sun rays from mirrors was used as no other source of light was available. There are so many inner parts of the structure where sun rays cannot reach even after using multi-layered mirror arrangement. It is difficult to understand how delicate and intricate designs were carved in such places.
• Kailasha temple is twice the area of Greece’s Parthenon and 50% taller. But compared to other large Hindu temples it’s smaller.
• The facade may be rather plain, but the temple itself is filled with elaborate and delicately carved sculpture.
Percy Brown, the British scholar and archaeologist, whose two-volume ‘Indian Architecture’ is indispensable to any study of Indian culture, wrote about the shrine in glowing terms, “The temple of Kailasha at Ellora is not only the most stupendous single work of art executed in India, but as an example of rock architecture it is unrivalled . . . . The Kailasha is an illustration of one of those occasions when men’s minds, hearts and heads work in unison towards the consummation of a supreme ideal. It was under such conditions of religious and cultural stability that this grand monolith representation of Shiva’s paradise was produced.”
Hope to return again here, someday.
Hope to return again here, someday.
Useful links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kailasa_temple,_Ellora/
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10603/75375/11/11_chapter%203.pdf
http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/As/India/Maharashtra/Ellora.htm
https://tvaraj.com/2015/07/29/the-awesome-monolithic-kailasanatha-temple-at-ellora-india/
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10603/75375/11/11_chapter%203.pdf
http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/As/India/Maharashtra/Ellora.htm
https://tvaraj.com/2015/07/29/the-awesome-monolithic-kailasanatha-temple-at-ellora-india/
