India Revealed: The Caves of Ajanta, Ellora, and Elephanta, Mumbai (Travel Guide)

203 Pages·2013·15.42 MB·English

Contents
Introduction
Rock-Cut Architecture in India
SITE PROFILES
AJANTA
Architecture Overview
Chaityas
Chaitya Stupas
Viharas
Paintings
Reliefs
Ajanta Map
Featured Caves
Cave 1 *
Cave 2 *
Cave 4
Cave 9
Cave 10 *
Cave 16 *
Cave 17 *
Cave 19 *
Cave 26 *
ELEPHANTA
Architecture
Reliefs Overview
Reliefs Style
Featured Reliefs
Ravana Shakes Mount Kailasa (Relief 1)
Shiva and Parvati Gambling (Relief 2)
Androgyne (Relief 3)
Sadashiva (Relief 4) *
Ganges Descends to Earth (Relief 5) *
Marriage of Shiva and Parvati (Relief 6) *
Shiva Slays Andhaka (Relief 7) *
Nataraja (Relief 8) *
Lord of Yogis (Relief 9)
ELLORA
Ellora Map
Buddhist Caves
Cave 5 - Maharwada
Cave 10 - Vishvakarma *
Cave 12 - Tin Tal
Hindu Caves
Cave 15 - Dashavatara *
Cave 16 - Kailasa *
Cave 21 - Rameshvara *
Cave 29 - Dhumar Lena
Jain Caves
Cave 32 - Indra Sabha *
LEGACY CONTINUES: CHINA
Free Updates
More from Approach Guides
Praise for Approach Guides
About Approach Guides
The Caves of India:
Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta
Version 1.0
by David Raezer and Jennifer Raezer
© 2012 by Approach Guides
(text, images, & illustrations, except those to which specific attribution is given)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without permission in
writing from the publisher. Further, this book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.
Approach Guides and the Approach Guides logo are the property of Approach Guides LLC. Other marks are the property of their
respective owners.
Although every effort was made to ensure that the information was as accurate as possible, we accept no responsibility for any loss,
damage, injury, or inconvenience sustained by anyone using this guidebook.
Approach Guides
New York, NY
www.approachguides.com
ISBN: 978-1-936614-33-2
Introduction
Previewing this book?
Please check out our enhanced preview, which offers a deeper look at this guidebook.
Built by Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monks as mountain retreats, India’s magnificent rock-cut
sanctuaries, monasteries, and temples offer travelers an unrivaled cultural experience, transporting
them back to the formative stage of art and architecture for India’s indigenous religions.
This Approach Guide serves as an ideal companion for travelers seeking a deeper understanding of
this fantastic landscape, profiling India’s three premier rock-cut religious sites: Ajanta (Buddhist),
Elephanta (Hindu), and Ellora (a mixture of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain).
For each location, we first offer an overview, introducing travelers to the trademark features of its
paintings, reliefs, and architecture. We devote special attention to the stylistic features that distinguish
one site from the next.
We then offer detailed profiles of the most impressive and representative caves at Ajanta, Elephanta,
and Ellora, walking step-by-step through their distinctive artistic and architectural highlights. The
overall goal of these featured cave profiles is to provide travelers with what is most important, a
framework for understanding each cave and what makes it special.
And along the way, this guide provides our personal tips at each location for getting the most from
your experience.
This Approach Guide contains:
Detailed profiles of 18 featured caves, hand-picked as the best examples of art and
architecture in Ajanta, Elephanta, and Ellora.
Over 130 high-resolution images — photos, floorplans, and illustrations — with color
highlights that make visual identification of key features easier.
High-level maps of each site to ease navigation and plan your itinerary.
Contact us anytime
Our readers are our greatest inspiration. Email us at
David and Jennifer Raezer
Founders, Approach Guides
Rock-Cut Architecture in India
The Premier Sites for Indian Rock-Cut Architecture
This Approach Guide explores the three premier sites for rock-cut architecture in India: Ajanta,
Elephanta, and Ellora. In doing so, it provides insight into the development of the Buddhist and Hindu
rock-cut architectural traditions (see Fig. 1), from their origins at Ajanta in the 2nd century BCE
through to their end at Ellora in the 9th century.
Fig. 1. Timeline of excavation activity for India’s rock-cut architecture.
Types of Stone Architecture
There are two types of stone architecture:
Rock cut. The focus of this guidebook, rock-cut architecture is made by carving into
natural rock. Usually hewn into the sides of mountain ridges, rock-cut structures are made
by excavating rock until the desired forms are achieved.
Stone built. Stone-built architecture, on the other hand, involves assembling cut stone
pieces to form a whole.
Buddhism as Driving Force
Buddhism gets the ball rolling
The first stone architecture in India was rock cut and executed by Buddhist monks; prior to these
structures, all architecture had been made of wood. The most impressive examples were rock-cut
religious sanctuaries, excavated directly out of the basalt mountains lining the western edge of the
Deccan Plateau, the elevated, v-shaped landmass that comprises most of the Indian peninsula. The
caves at Ajanta — as well as those at nearby Bedsa, Bhaja, Karla, Kondane, Nashik, and Pitalkhora
— were part of this initial wave of excavations.
Inspiration for India’s rock-cut architecture
Early Buddhist architecture was likely indirectly inspired by that of the Egyptians. The
Egyptians were probably the first civilization in the world to construct stone architecture;
they began constructing stone-built pyramids in the 27th century BCE (Djoser’s Step
Pyramid in Saqqara) and excavating rock-cut tombs in the 16th century BCE (Valley of the
Kings in Luxor).
At the same time, similar stone-built pyramids, called ziggurats, were being built not too
far away in Mesopotamia (modern day Iran and Iraq); the earliest probably date from the
late part of Sumeria’s Early Dynastic period (2900-2350 BCE). The ziggurat pyramid
design, however, was never transformed from stepped to smooth edged, as was the case in
Egypt.
Egyptian and Mesopotamian forms and building practices were borrowed by the
Persians, who embraced rock-cut architecture. In fact, the royal tombs of Darius (522
BCE to 486 BCE) and the rest of the Old Persian (Achaemenid) Empire were rock cut;
they are located just outside of the ancient city of Persepolis in modern-day Iran.
Most likely drawing on Persian precedent, India’s earliest stone architects commenced building
rock-cut architecture in the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE. These architects adapted Persian forms —
infusing them with local design preferences derived from their existing wood-based architecture and
introducing entirely new features to suit their unique religious practices — to create rock-cut caves
with an entirely new aesthetic.
Why were the Buddhists the first to build in stone?
It appears that the Buddhists just happened to have the support of rulers and rich merchants during the
critical period during which Persian rock-cut architectural practices began to trickle into the
subcontinent.
Keep in mind, although the Buddhist faith was founded in India in the 6th century BCE, it did not gain
widespread adoption until it received imperial sponsorship by the powerful Mauryan Emperor,
Ashoka, who converted to Buddhism and ruled most of the India subcontinent from 269-232 BCE.
The faith garnered subsequent momentum as a rising merchant class were attracted to Buddhism given
the absence of Hinduism’s rigid caste restrictions that would have otherwise restrained their rise in
social stature.
The appeal of remote locations