Ellora : The Finest Art Work of Buddisht and Jain Monuments

Posted on March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 by unesco whs

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Ellora Caves is another Monument in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, It is stretched over 2 Km and has 34 Monastries, This is also a Rock Cut Caves just like Ajantha Caves, But This is dedicated to many religions like Buddism, Jainism, and Hinduism.

The Monastries are divided into Stages that are dedicated to a particular group of religions. The Hinduism-related Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, It has the same Look and Architecture as Kailasanathar Temple in Tamil Nadu.

The Rock Cut Temple is Carved out of Basalt Rock, Also the Entire rock is Cut and the Remains of rock are not found around which still remains as a Mystery For Everyone.

Buddhist monuments (Caves 1-12) occupy the southernmost part of the site, at the same time as Hindu monuments (Caves 13-29) are positioned withinside the middle; closer to the north are a small variety of Jain excavations (Caves 30-34).

Despite this strictly linear arrangement, the dramatic cognizance of the site surely the outstanding success of Cave 16 , the well-known Kailasa. There also are many unnumbered excavations, inferior as a long way as structure and artwork are concerned, clustered at the hillside above known as the Ganesh Lena institution.

History

The name Ellora came from Elapur, He was the King who earlier ruled this Place. The Site is located on the Western Ghats in the Deccan Region on Chandragiri Hills. Ellora Caves are Constructed in Three Phases and Each Phase is representing Constructions of Particular Religions art.

There are as many as 100 Caves in Aurangabad, But Ajantha has 32 Caves and Ellora has 34 Caves. Out of 34, 12 are Buddhist Caves, 17 are Hindu Caves and 5 are Jain Caves. The Buddist and Hindi Caves were built during the era of the Rashtakuta Dynasty, Whereas The Jain Caves were built during Yadava Dynasty.

The Buddist caves were built between 400-600 AD by Rashtrakutas, The Numbers from 1-12 are Buddhist Caves. The Hindu Caves were built between 600-700 AD numbers from 13-29 are Hindu Caves, The Jain Caves were built between 800-1000AD numbers from 29-34 are Jain Caves.

Architecture

Ellora is an Architectural Wonder, The Rock Cut Carvings, Cutting and entire Rock which is 200,000 sq yds are into a single Temple with Towers and Sculptures are just Marvel. Also, The biggest mystery is the remains after cutting the rock have not been found nearby.

The Carpenters cave is carved in such a way that it looks like the Rock is bent on top, All these things have been done about 1500 Years ago, This Site has Basalt salt rock which has a shining texture, The Craftsmanship Job on all 34 rocks are really fantastic.

Timeline of Events

Another exceptional factor of Ellora is that here, withinside the identical space, the craftsman absolutely turns across the traditional information of cave-temple architecture, beginning with caves with simply mukha mandapa and shrine as in Cave 28 to developing a temple completely carved out of the rock as in Kailasanatha temple, Cave 16.

Ellora additionally efficaciously combines the penetrative and deductive processes of cave carving in India. The penetrative technique is the traditional technique visible in Western India, like at Ajanta wherein the carver penetrates into the rock floor and creates space.

On the alternative hand, the deductive technique has been practiced in Eastern India on the monuments of Udaygiri [Odisha], and at Mahabalipuram [Tamil Nadu]. Here the carver imagines the outdoors shape of the cave and systematically eliminates the rock to attain that shape.

The traits of rock in each region, the more difficult rock in eastern India and softer rock in western India, have contributed immensely to the system of carving. This amalgamation of various traditions which took nearly seven hundred future years approximately may be visible at Ellora itself which makes it a completely unique monument in India.

While discussing the iconic carving pastime at Ellora, one wonders why all of the principal or minor dynasties that managed the place had been keen to construct here. It most effectively shows that the site possibly performed a pivotal function withinside the socio-financial or political lifestyles of the place.

While analyzing the improvement of structure in a place, the commercial, spiritual and political importance of the place want to be considered for the purpose that structure being a humongous investment, customers might now no longer construct at difficult to understand sites.

As S Nagaraju argued in his extent on western Indian caves, maximum of the Hinayana caves in western India had been constructed on or close to the historic alternate routes (Nagaraju 1981). Being at the alternate course the site might have financial significance in addition to spiritual importance.

Monuments are carved at those locations to both popularize a faith or to cater to an already famous religion. When Buddhism changed in large part accompanied through the service provider community, it changed into popularly believed that Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara might shield them from the perils of alternate. This is supported through the sponsorship of those groups to the maximum of the Buddhist institutions and monuments.

Unesco WHS

Unesco Declared this site as a World Heritage Site in 1983, The Reason for Declaring and giving WHS Status is that it is a Rock Cut cave temple, And a huge rock has been cut and Carved beautifully which represents all the religions Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Travel Route

Jalgaon Airport is the Closest airport to Ellora Caves it is 150kms away from Ellora caves. This Airport is well connected to Many Places in India. Most of the flights are from Mumbai, Surat, Delhi, and Jaipur.

Mumbai is 414 Km Away and Surat is 320 Km away from Jalgaon. International tourists must reach either Mumbai or Surat First and then travel to Jalgaon Either Flight or Bus.

The nearest Railway Station is Jalgaon Railway Station.

The Distance from Ajantha to Ellora is 100 Kms.

Ticket Prices

Closed on Tuesday’s , Timings are 8 AM to 6 PM

UPSC NOTES

Ellora Caves is another Monument in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra.
This is dedicated to many religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism.
The Hinduism-related Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, It has the same Look and Architecture as Kailasanathar Temple in Tamil Nadu.
The name Ellora came from Elapur.
The Site is located on the Western Ghats in the Deccan Region on Chandragiri Hills.
There are as many as 100 Caves in Aurangabad, But Ajantha has 32 Caves and Ellora has 34 Caves.
Out of 34, 12 are Buddhist Caves, 17 are Hindu Caves and 5 are Jain Caves.
The Buddist caves were built between 400-600 AD by Rashtrakutas, The Numbers from 1-12 are Buddhist Caves.
The Hindu Caves were built between 600-700 AD numbers from 13-29 are Hindu Caves.
The Jain Caves were built between 800-1000AD numbers from 29-34 are Jain Caves.
Unesco Declared this site as a World Heritage Site in 1983.

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