Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c22.27

c22.27

Of these excavated temples on the Ellora site, there now remains only the final group, the productions of the Jains, probably begun about 800 A.D., and carried on continuously for the following century. This group the smallest of the entire series is set a little apart from the others, occupying the northern horn of the ridge, and consists of five examples, Nos 30 to 34, but only three are of any importance. One of these, known as the Chota Kailasa (No. 30) standing a little detached from the others, as indicated by its name, is a small copy of the great Brahmanical monolithic temple, the Kailasa, previously described Only about a quarter the size of the original, the hall being thirty-six feet wide compared with the Kailasa's fifty-five feet, it is a replica of it in most respects, but in the process of reduction, the tower has assumed rather stunted proportions, and is also unfinished. Much superior to this monolithic example are the two temples of the excavated variety, known as the Indra Sabha (No. 32) and the Jaganath Sabha (No. 33), standing close together. Both are in two stories, the larger and finer being the Indra Sabha, apparently the first of the group to be cut, and therefore dating from about 800 A.D. This temple is approached through a rock-cut doorway which opens on to a square courtyard of fifty feet side, much of the central portion of which is occupied by a monolithic shrine in the form of a miniature Dravidian temple. A handsome prelude to the temple proper, mounted on a high flight of steps and with all the details of the original model faithfully rendered, nevertheless this shrine is rather disproportionately large for its surroundings and as in addition there is a large free-standing pillar (*dhwajasthambha*) over thirty feet high on one side, and an imposing effigy of an elephant on the other, the courtyard as a whole is inclined to be congested Moreover as three sides of the quadrangle are elaborately carved to produce a two storied facade, such an excess of richness in so confined a space is overpowering. Yet there is much in the treatment of the sides of this frontage that has merit. What may be termed an entablature is one of its main features, consisting of a broad horizontal surface dividing the lower from the upper story, while a similar broad surface surmounts the upper story. Both entablatures are elaborately carved, the upper one by means of a series of shrines with images of the Tirthankars, or Jaina saints in the niches, the lower with a design which includes projecting elephant forms alternating with rampant lions against a background of pilasters and decorative vases. Although all these motifs are exceptionally well-designed and executed, and portions even well-composed, as a whole the facade does not appear to have been treated as a unity, it is an arrangement of very artistic elements but carried out without any clear pre-conceived plan.