Ellora - Hindu Caves - 13-15

Ellora - Hindu Caves - 13-15

The Hindu caves are the most dramatic and impressive of the Ellora cave temples. In size, design and energy, they are in a very different league from the Buddhist or Jain caves. If calm contemplation describes the Buddhist caves, then dynamic energy is the description for the Hindu caves.

Caves 13-29 - Hindu Groups of Caves

As we have seen earlier, Cave No. 13 to 29 are Hindu Caves. The group stands out entirely because of the grandeur of its architecture, abundance of sculptures and variety of subjects. The episodes from Puranas are found animated here in the form of sculptures. If we observe the sculptures closely, we are amazed to see the different body actions, variety in jewellery, clothing, and hairdressing. Everything so skillfully carved that these figures stand before us as live models. The expressions of feminine modesty, their fears and anger all are shown with ease and delicateness. There is great influence of Saiva cult on this group. Therefore, one finds a Sivalinga in almost all the sanctum of these caves.

Events and episodes associated with Siva and Parvati are found everywhere in large panels. Other deities are rarely depicted in these 13 caves, except perhaps in Cave 15, rightly named Dasavatara Cave where various forms of Vishu are found.

These Hindu caves, excavated between the 7^th and 9^th centuries are a world apart from the chaitya-grhas and viharas. The familiar Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas are gone. The motifs are still as religious as in the Buddhist art, but the representations take other forms. The Vedic concept at the outset was on the concept of One Supreme Being. But in later ages, this found dramatic expression in symbolical figures, and the offshoot was a great Hindu pantheon around which grew a vast richness of the Puranas. The imagination and poetry of the new concepts were reflected in art, which attained a new visual grace and power.

One has to remember that the Hindu revival, which produced this group of Ellora Caves under royal patronage had nothing in it of intolerance against the Buddhist system fought entirely in the intellectual arena. The dharma of a Hindu king as the defender of faith was to give protection to all religious devotees, and few of them failed in their duty in this respect. It would have been a flagrant outrage upon the Indo-Aryan sense of royal justice for the King to attempt to convert any form of religious argument except by the weapon of logic used in the debating hall.

Cave 13

Is an incomplete excavation.

Cave 14 - Ravana ki Khai

Cave 14 is a modest cave known as Ravan-ki-khai, has a number of interesting details. The cave has a courtyard, a mandapa with 16 kumbhavalli pillars, and a shrine with a wide pradakshina-marga around it. The walls on both sides of the mandapa are divided into five compartments by kalasa-topped pilasters.

The sculptures in the compartments of the north wall are in the following order from west to east: Durga, Gaja-Lakshmi attended by two standing deities of which one is Vishnu(OMG), Bhu-Varahamurti, Vaikunthanatha with Sri, Bhudevi and Lakshmi Narayana.

The compartments on the south wall show the following sculptures from west to east: Mahishasuramardini (in several examples, the demons depicted as a buffalo, but in the Kailshanatha and in the temples of Mahabalipuram, he is shown as a man with a buffalo-head), Siva and Parvati playing chausar, Siva dancing in lalita pose, Ravana shaking Kailasha mountain and Andhakasura.

The shrine is simple containing a pitha with a broken image of a goddess that was probably a later addition. The doorway is guarded on either side by standing female figures and two-armed dvarapalas, with dwarf attendants. The fifures of Ganga and Yamuna are sculpted on the northern and southern ends respectively. The oft-represented Saptamatrkas with attendant deities, Siva, Ganesha, Atiriktanga Bhairava with attendant deities, adorn the southern side of the pradalshina-marga.

It is the first Hindu Cave, and serves as an introduction to the new order. A remarkable change in style, architecture and sculpture can be noticed from this cave.  It is dedicated to Siva, who appears in many of the carvings. One can see Siva dancing as Tandava, a victory dance over the demon Mahisha, or playing chess with his consort Parvati, or defeating the buffalo-demon. All the walls are occupied by large sculpture-panels. In the first panel to the left, there is Durga, the mother goddess, whose worship forms a great national festival in India. The third panel has Vishnu. Vishnu makes several appearances too, including one as Varaha, his boar incarnation. The shrine holds the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. The right wall is dedicated to Siva and the panel of Sapta-matrka (seven mother goddesses) occupies the entire left-side wall of the pradakshina-marga. There is no image in the sanctum-sanctorum. There was an image of Durga which is now broken. On the doorways, there are large male and female guardians. Ravana makes yet another attempt to shake Kailasa.

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Cave 15 - Dashavatara Cave

Cvae 15 is known as Dasavatara Cave aand is situated at some distance from Cave 13, and at a higher level. It is two-storeyed and has a large courtyard in which stands a monolithic Nandimandapa. It opens only on the east side, but on its west side there is a portico, on the back wall of which is the famous inscription of the Rashtrakuta king Krshna III. On its flat top are sirited figures of lions and ganas in the round.

The walls on both the sides of the hall are dvided into six cells each. The cells on the north side, from west to east show the following: Andhakari, dancing Siva, a pitha for linga, Siva Parvati playing chausar, and Ravana shaking the Kailasa. Markandeya-anugraha and Gangadhara are depicted on two panels to the north of the entrance to the vestibule.

The cells on the south wall have the following sculptures from west to east: Narasimha fighting Hiranyakashipu; Vishnu as Trivikrama, Bhuvaraha, Vishnu as Karivarada, Vishnu as Seshasayi, six-armed Krshna as Giridhara Gopala. Tripurantaka and Lingodbhava are depicted on two panels to the south of the entrance.

North wall of the vestibule has a crudely worked Ganesha, while south wall has a standing Kartikeya. The entrance of the shrine is guraded by four-armed dvarapalas. The wall beyond the northern dvarapala shows Saraswati attended by a male lute-player on either side. Beyond the southern dvarapla ais a Gaja-Lakshmi. A huge linga on the pitha is in the sanctum. A huge Nandi is found in the hall.

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Swāmini Ātmaprajnānanda Saraswati is a Dasanāmi Sannyāsini of Śankara Bhagavatpāda Order. She has visited (by flight, train, car, on mules, on foot) more than 100 temples/holy sites in India, has extensively photographed them, has studied their legends, and architectural history. They include 4 temples of Elements, 5 Jyotirlingas, almost all Buddhist and Jain Pilgrim sites, and all famous Indo-Islamic architecture. Out of these, 12 places are listed as World Heritage by UNESCO.

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