Ajanta Ellora Caves

About 107 km from the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, are the rock-out caves of Ajanta nestled in a panoramic gorge, in the form of a gigantic horseshoe. A set of 29 caves, Ajanta is among the finest examples of some of the earliest Buddhist architecture, cave paintings and sculptures.
These caves comprise Chaitya halls or shrines, dedicated to Lord Buddha and Viharas or monasteries, used by Buddhist monks for meditation and the study of Buddhist teachings. The paintings that adorn the walls and ceilings of the caves depict incidents from the life of lord Buddha and various Buddhist divinities. Among the most interesting paintings are the Jataka tales, illustrating diverse stories relating to the previous incarnations of the Buddha as Bodhisattava, a saintly being who is destined to become the Buddha. These elaborate sculptures and paintings stand in impressive grandeur in spite of withstanding the ravages of time. Amid the beautiful images and paintings are sculptures of Buddha, calm and serene in contemplation.
The cave temples and monasteries at Ellora, excavated out of the vertical face of an escarpment, are 26 km north of Aurangabad. Sculptors, inspired by Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, created elaborate rock carvings. Extending in a linear arrangement, the 34 caves contain Buddhist Chaityas or halls of worship, Viharas or monasteries and Hindu and Jain temples. Spanning a period of about 600 years between the 5th and 11th century A.D., the earliest excavation here is of the Dhumar Lena (Cave 29). The most imposing excavation is, without doubt, that of the magnificent Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) which is the largest monolithic structure in the world. Known as Verul in ancient times, it has continuously attracted pilgrims through the centuries to the present day.
The Ajanta Caves constitute ancient monasteries and worship-halls of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 75-metre (246 ft) wall of rock.[9][10] The caves also present paintings depicting the past lives and rebirths of the Buddha, pictorial tales from Aryasura's Jatakamala, and rock-cut sculptures of Buddhist deities.[9][11][12] Textual records suggest that these caves served as a monsoon retreat for monks, as well as a resting site for merchants and pilgrims in ancient India. While vivid colours and mural wall-painting were abundant in Indian history as evidenced by historical records, Caves 16, 17, 1 and 2 of Ajanta form the largest corpus of surviving ancient Indian wall-painting.
With the Ellora Caves, Ajanta is one of the major tourist attractions of Maharashtra. Ajanta is 100 kilometres from the Ellora Caves, which contain Hindu, Jain and Buddhist caves, the last dating from a period similar to Ajanta. The Ajanta style is also found in the Ellora Caves and other sites such as the Elephanta Caves, Aurangabad Caves, Shivleni Caves and the cave temples of Karnataka.
The caves are carved out of flood basalt rock of a cliff, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous geological period. The rock is layered horizontally, and somewhat variable in quality. This variation within the rock layers required the artists to amend their carving methods and plans in places. The inhomogeneity in the rock have also led to cracks and collapses in the centuries that followed, as with the lost portico to cave 1. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was expanded downwards and outwards; as evidenced by some of the incomplete caves such as the partially-built vihara caves 21 through 24 and the abandoned incomplete cave 28.
The majority of the caves are vihara halls with symmetrical square plans. To each vihara hall are attached smaller square dormitory cells cut into the walls.[64] A vast majority of the caves were carved in the second period, wherein a shrine or sanctuary is appended at the rear of the cave, centred on a large statue of the Buddha, along with exuberantly detailed reliefs and deities near him as well as on the pillars and walls, all carved out of the natural rock. This change reflects the shift from Hinayana to Mahāyāna Buddhism. These caves are often called monasteries.
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The Ajanta Caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct phases, the first during the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, and a second several centuries later. According to Walter Spink, they were made during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Hindu Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruled the region. Other datings prefer the period of the Maurya Empire (300 BCE to 100 BCE).
According to Spink, once the Satavahana period caves were made, the site was not further developed for a considerable period until the mid-5th century. However, the early caves were in use during this dormant period, and Buddhist pilgrims visited the site, according to the records left by Chinese pilgrim Faxian around 400 CE.
According to Richard Cohen, a description of the caves by 7th-century Chinese traveler Xuanzang and scattered medieval graffiti suggest that the Ajanta Caves were known and probably in use subsequently, but without a stable or steady Buddhist community presence. The Ajanta caves are mentioned in the 17th-century text Ain-i-Akbari by Abu al-Fazl, as twenty four rock-cut cave temples each with remarkable idols.
On 28 April 1819 a British officer named John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tigers discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 when a local shepherd boy guided him to the location and the door. The caves were well known by locals already. Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional and unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery.
Unlike other rock-cut sites in the Western Deccan, such as Ajanta and Pitalkhora, Ellora was never ‘rediscovered’. It has always been known as a holy spot, generally under the name of Verul, attracting pilgrims throughout the centuries down to the present day.
Some of the cave-temples have been inhabited from time to time by holy men who were known for their visions and ascetic practices. It seems that even Aurangzeb paid a visit to the site on more than one occasion, presumably from nearby Khuldabad. Ever since the first European visitors in the eighteenth century, Ellora has attracted chroniclers, antiquarians, scholars, and, in more recent years, ever-increasing numbers of tourists.
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In the context of the development of Indian temple architecture, Ajanta & Ellora caves play a significant role for the reason that here one finds a culmination of centuries long evolution of Indian cave temple architecture.
The experiments at Udaygiri amalgamate with the mature tradition of western India at Ajanta, the magnificent acme of rock cut architecture. Cave architecture tradition soon disperses from Ajanta to traverse through Deccan and south India only to return back to western India with new designs and technological advancement as seen at Ellora, especially at Kailasanatha temple.
One can almost call Kailasanatha temple an encyclopedia of Indian cave architecture as it successfully synthesizes the long tradition of cave carving in western India, Malwa, Deccan and south India. It would not be erroneous to call the architecture of Kailasa at Ellora a ‘national style’ for the reason that craftsmen from various regions of India appear to have worked here leading to the creation of a pan Indian cave architecture. The caves at Ellora are truly an encyclopedia of cave temple architecture as we can trace the development and innovations of Indian cave temple architecture, starting from the 5th to the 12th century here itself.
Ellora also successfully combines the penetrative and deductive approaches of cave carving in India. Penetrative method is the conventional approach seen in Western India, like at Ajanta where the carver penetrates into the rock surface and creates space. This amalgamation of different traditions which took almost 700 years to come about can be seen at Ellora itself which makes it a unique monument in India.
Caves belonging to the Jain religion bring the history of the site of Ellora right into medieval period. The architecture in accordance to the spirit of the age is much complex and as intricate as it can be.
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