Places I Visit With My Camera: Visit to Ellora Caves (No. 1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 14)

As the name suggest I am trying to split this post into number of posts as the clicks that I took are huge and its been difficult for me to compile all of them at one time in one single post.
Though it’s been sometime that I visited Ellora caves (13^th Dec 2010), but still I thought I should write out this blog. Links that I explored before I went to Ellora are link1 and link2. There is a lot said and written about Ellora caves and you can find huge number of articles on internet which do so. Hence I won’t spend much time repeating the stuff. In this article I plan to provide the basic information about the caves that I visited with few of the selected clicks. It was unfortunate on my side that I was not able to visit all the caves in one single day. I guess it is not even possible to do so if you are taking photos as well on your way.

In brief some facts about Ellora caves which I found very interesting:

These caves are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These caves were built during the Gupta period of the 6^th and 8^th centuries AD.
There are 34 magnificent caves in Ellora, hewn out in the solid rock of Charandari hill.
The first twelve caves from cave no. 1 to 12 are the Buddhist caves, excavated during the time of Chalukayas of Vatapikonda (modern Badami in Bijapur) between 600 A.D. to 700 A.D.
The Later Hindu caves from cave no. 13 to 29 were excavated between 700 A.D. to 800 A.D.
The last group of Jain caves from cave no. 30 to 34 were excavated between 800 to 1000 A.D.
Both Hindu and Jain caves were excavated under the royal patronage of Rashtrakuta dynasty.
Chronologically the Ellora caves start where the Ajanta caves finish – it’s thought that the builders of Ajanta moved to Ellora when they suddenly ceased construction at their earlier site (i.e. Ajant).

Cave No. 1: The Buddhist monastery [Monastery (plural: monasteries) denotes a building in which monks live] is datable to circa [approximately] 6th century A.D. Austerely [not decorated] plain and consists of an astylar [Architect without columns or pilasters] hall having eight cells and is devoid of sculptural representation. It is possible that the excavation was done for the residence of the stone cutters but was later on used by the Buddhist monks.

Hall Having Eight Cells

Carving For Lamp

Cave No.2: The Buddhist monastery datable to circa 8th century A.D. consists of a broken verandah [a platform with a roof along the outside wall of a house], a hypostylar [a hypostyle hall has a flat ceiling which is supported by columns] hall with lateral galleries and a sanctum [a sacred or holy place] flanked by cells. The monastery is decorated both internally and externally with sculptures of Lord Buddha in different postures and deities [A god or goddess] of Buddhist pantheon [All the gods of a people considered as a group]. The door of the hall and sanctum are guarded by large figures of Bodhisattvas [In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Sanskrit: bodhisattva; Pali: bodhisatta) is either an enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva) or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one (satva) for enlightenment (bodhi)." Another term is "wisdom-being." It is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings]. The hall has twelve decorative pillars, which endow it with a majestic appearance. The lateral galleries and the walls are decorated with the images of Buddhist pantheon. The sanctum houses Lord Buddha on a Lion-throne in preaching posture, attend by bejeweled [Decorated with or as if with jewels] Bodhisattvas.

Broken Verandah

Hypostylar 1

Hypostylar 2

Sanctum

Lateral Gallery

Deities Of Buddhist Pantheon 1

Deities Of Buddhist Pantheon 2

Lord Buddha On Lion Throne

Sculptures Of Lord Buddha In Different Postures

Decorated Pillar

Cave No. 5: This is very big and impressive Buddhist monastery, datable to circa 7th century A.D. The oblong hall, the two side chapels [A place of worship in an institution] with cells, an antechamber [A smaller room serving as an entryway into a larger room] and a sanctum are the chief architectural components. The massive pillars in the hall are decorated with paintings. The hall seems to have been used for monks as an assembly hall, dining room and also for ritualistic purposes. The sanctum houses Lord Buddha in preaching posture and is guarded by two huge Bodhisattvas.

The Oblong Hall

Side Chapel With Cells

Cave No. 10: The double storied Buddhist cathedral [A large, important church]-cum-monastery the only Chaitya Griha at Ellora cave is stylistically and paleographically [paleography means study of handwriting of past and often the manuscripts as well] datable to 7th century A.D. It is a beautiful creation of artistes, who have copied the contemporary wooden constructions in cave architecture. The most remarkable feature is the Music Gallery (upper floor) and the beautiful carved facade. The facade is decorated with a number of friezes [frieze means a decorative horizontal band, as along the upper part of a wall in a room] of animals, couples and a beautifully carved window, which allows light to in the cave. It consists of a large courtyard with a double storied apartment on both sides and an apsidal pillared hall on a raised platform.

The spacious hall apsidal [relating to an apse. Apse means a usually semicircular or polygonal, often vaulted recess] on plan, has thirty pillars arranged in an elongated apse. The object of worship is a seated image of preaching Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas and celestial couples all carved against the stupa, which serves as an ornamental background. The drum of the stupa is also decorated with panels of Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The ribbed vault gives an echo effect in the hall when a person standing at one end of the columns of the nave creates any sound.

The upper floor is approached by a flight of steps cut in to the sidewall of verandah. It is possible that from this music-gallery, background music was provided to the monks, chanting mantras below. It may also have been used for seating important visitors during prayers.

Music Gallery With Its Facade

The Spacious Hall

Due to low light conditions and lot of tourists it was very difficult for me to take clicks of this cave. From all the clicks that I took above two were the only good ones and which followed the description of cave.

Cave No. 13: I tried to find some information about this cave and was not able to find anything on net. The only description which I found was in one of the books that one gets at the caves. It described this cave as the resting place or "Dharmshala" for the monks. As it can be seen from the clicks this cave is plain and with hardly any carvings as such. The front portion of the cave is destroyed as well.

Plain Entrance

Plain Interior

Few of the carvings that I was able to find in one of the chambers of this cave can be seen in below click.

Minimal Carvings 1

Minimal Carvings 2

Cave No. 14: The cave is locally known as "Ravan Ki Khai" because of the sculpture of Ravan shaking the Kailasha, a popular theme at Ellora. This cave temple (13.60 m * 8.69 m) was probably dedicated to Sakti cult. The sidewalls of the hall are scooped into several compartments containing the sculptural compositions of Hindu Mythology. The sanctum is separated from the back-wall by a circumambulatory [circumambulate: to walk around (something)] passage, opening into a hypostylar hall. The sanctum door is flanked by Flywhisk-bearers, gigantic guards and River Goddesses respectively.

The disposition of the panels show Vaishnava theme on one side and Saiva theme on the other showing religious harmony. The wall of the hall also contains a panel of seven-divine-mothers. The emphasis on female divinities suggests prevalence's of Sakti worship.

The south wall contains the images of Mahisasura Mardini [the slaying of buffalo-demon], Lord Siva and Parvai playing the game of chausar [Dice], Lord Siva performing the celestial dance [Nataraja], Ravananugraha Murti [Ravana shaking the Mount Kailasa and later Siva pardoning him and blessing him], Gajasamhara murti [Siva killing the elephant-demon].

Mahisasura Mardini

Lord Siva And Parvai Playing Chausur

Nataraj

Ravan Moving Kailash

Gajasamharasur Murti

By the side of these sculptural representations, and on the southern wall the of the circumambulation [right side wall towards the back of cave] , is the depiction of Saptamatrikas (Seven Divine Mothers), Chamunda with owl, Indrani with elephant, Varahi with boar, Lakshmi with garuda, Kaumari with peacock, Maheshwari with bull and Sarasvati with hamsa or goose.

Saptamatrikas Seven Divine Mothers

The north wall [left side of the cave] contains the images of Bhavani or Durga, Gajalakshmi, Varaha the boar incarnation of Vishnu, Vishnu and Lakshmi. One of the books that I got at the caves mentioned the fifth image listed below as the one of Lord Vishnu, Sridevi and Bhudevi.