The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c20: Chapter XIV

The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c20

Language: English

Chapter XIV

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THE TÎRTH OF ELLORA—THE VISVAKARMA CHAITYA-HOUSE—THE DUMAR LENA TEMPLE—THE RAMÊSVARA TEMPLE—THE KAILÂSA TEMPLE—THE INDRA SABHÂ AND JAGANNATH SABHÂ

WITHIN the territories of the Chalukyan kings where Bâdâmi, Pattadakal, and Ajantâ were situated there was another place, now known as Ellora, around which the associations of Aryan piety had gathered from time immemorial. Ellora, which is now within the Nizam's dominions, is not far to the south of Ajantâ, and the amenities of the place which made it sacred to religious devotees of every sect were likewise Siva's moon-crest, the bend of a rushing torrent, overhung by a rocky hill, and a waterfall. Ajantâ was a university, Ellora a tîrth, or place of pilgrimage. Tradition does not record what yogi's wonder-working austerities first brought pilgrims to the place, but it is known at the present day as one of the twelve sacred tîrths to accomplish which is the desire of every sâdhu or sannyâsin.

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According to the strict rule of his caste every Brahman, when he has fulfilled the duties first of a Brahmachârin, or student, and afterwards those of a father and householder, should on the approach of old age hand over charge of his family to his son, and, following the example of the Buddha, shave his head, discard the sacred cord which is the symbol of his order, and take the vow of a sannyâsin. Then with a pilgrim's staff and water-vessel, and with begging-bowl in hand,

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FAÇADE OF THE VISVAKARMA CHAITYA-HOUSE, ELLORA

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he should go forth into the world as a mendicant and spend the rest of his life in wandering from one sacred tîr Râma and Sîtâ in exile, others the last journey of the Pândava heroes; or to visit the birthplace of character within one very well defined type. At Ellora, which was and is a place of pilgrimage for all India, the imagination of the artist had wider scope; and there could hardly be a grander opportunity for sculpture on a titanic scale than the cliffs of Ellora afforded. So far as archæological investigation goes, the group of monasteries and an important chaitya-house, now known as the Visvakarma jhôprâ, at the south extremity of the line, are assumed to be the earliest in date, because they are Buddhist; but the system of chronology based upon the hypothesis that Brahmanical architecture is derived from the Buddhist is wholly unreliable. There is very little doubt that Ellora was a resort for devotees of all sects from a remote antiquity—Buddhists, Jains, and sâdhus and sannyâsins of the orthodox schools living side by side, worshipping together the aspect of the Divine manifested in the wonderful natural phenomena which attracted them to the place, but every sect representing a different philosophical school or a different theory of the divine nature.

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FAÇADE OF THE RAMÊŚVARA TEMPLE, ELLORA

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The command of an unlimited number of skilled craftsmen which the affluent Buddhist sect had for centuries after Asoka’s conversion naturally gave Buddhism greater architectural opportunities. But in every period of Indian history it was only the popular side of Indo-Aryan religion that was represented by the sculptor, painter, and architect. The higher philosophy of every sect ignored the aids to contemplation and the gorgeous ritual which popular feeling demanded. The lonely forest, the mountain cave, the quiet river-bank were more to the philosopher than the most splendid shrine ever made by the hands of men. So at Ellora and every other sacred tîrth the centre of interest to the pilgrims would often be, not a magnificent chaitya-house, temple, or splendid monastery, but a roughly hewn cave or a natural grot, where a yogi lived whose inspired sayings were treasured up in the people’s mind and added to the storehouse of Indian wisdom. Archæology can give a date to the work of the painter, sculptor, and architect; but the antiquity of the hermit's cave, which to the Indian historian may be a record of far higher significance, must always remain a matter of conjecture.

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Ellora was never at any time, like Ajaṇṭâ, appropriated by any particular sect, as archæological classification might lead one to suppose. The chief architectural or sculptural antiquities of Ellora which can be approximately dated all come within that epoch of Indian history so graphically described by Hiuen Tsang, when Buddhists, Jains, and orthodox Brahmans joined together in divine worship at public festivals, and were more or less equal sharers of state patronage.

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The Visvakarma¹ chaitya-house, if the local tradition preserves its original dedication, may have been the chapel of the guild of masons who were working at Ellora, and some of the adjoining monastic halls may have been their residences. A place like Ellora, where splendid shrines and monasteries were continually being carved out of the cliffs on either side of the great waterfall, would doubtless have a colony of skilled masons permanently residing there, and their services would be utilised for any religious sculpture required, whatever its sectarian character might be. The same masons who sculptured the Visvakarma chaitya-house, or their descendants, may have assisted the Saivaites at the Dumar Lena—a reproduction of the Elephanta temple—and later on at the Kailâsa temple, which is almost a copy of the Virûpâksha temple at Pattadakal, and also the Jains in sculpturing the Indra Sabhâ and the Jagannath Sabhâ. In the same way, in later times, Hindu craftsmen of every sect worked for the Muhammadans in building their mosques and tombs, for no "Saracenic" builders came into India with the Muhammadan conquerors.

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¹ Visvakarma was the craftsman's synonym for Brahmâ, as the Divine Artificer, or the Architect of the Universe.

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The Visvakarma chaitya-house is larger than any of the Mahâyânist chapels at Ajantâ, its length being over 85 feet and breadth 43 feet, but it is by no means so impressive, either externally or internally. It is chiefly interesting for the novelty of the design of the façade, Pl. LXIII. When a chaitya-house faced the west, as in this case, the usual proportions of the great sun-window which lighted the nave would be inconveniently large, although the set-back of the front wall and the use of curtains tended to mitigate the glare. In the Visvakarma chaitya-house the traditional design of the façade is altered by an arrangement which might have been called "Renaissance" in style, had it been seven or eight centuries later in date, in order to reduce the size of the openings. The effect is not altogether pleasing, and the Visvakarma chaitya-house, on the whole, is lacking in the fine inspiration of other great works at Ellora. There is a certain dryness and formality in the design of the whole front, although it has the negative merit of not being overcrowded, like some of the Ajantâ work.

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According to archæological convention, the Buddhist group is placed first in chronological order; but the probability is that the Saivaites, or followers of orthodox Brahmanism, were the first to occupy the site, for they held all the places adjoining the waterfall and Siva's crescent which made Ellora holy ground. Both the Jains and Buddhists would seem to have been allotted their respective stations to the north and south of the Saivaite group at a later date. On both sides of the ravine above the waterfall there is a series of simple excavations of no architectural pretensions, but they may possibly have formed the original asrâma, or hermitage of Ellora, before it became famous as a place of pilgrimage.

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Adjoining the waterfall the scarp of rock on the southern side is cut into a group of three comparatively small and simple shrines¹ which also belong to the period before the seventh century, when the quiet of the hermitage was as yet undisturbed by the excavation of the magnificent temples upon which the Chalukyan kings lavished all the resources of their treasury. The Dumar Lena temple, close to the waterfall on the northern side of the ravine, seems to indicate the beginning of the bestowal of royal bounty upon the asrâma of Ellora. In plan it is almost an exact reproduction, on a somewhat larger scale, of the great temple at Elephanta; but it is oriented differently, as the four entrances of the Brahmâ shrine, instead of fronting the four quarters, turn to the intermediate points of the compass. The entrances correspond with those of the shrine—that which overlooks the waterfall is south-east. Probably this orientation was arranged so that the main axis of the temple should follow the direction of the stream at the point where it stands.

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¹ According to the arbitrary scheme of numbering adopted by Dr. Burgess, these are Nos. 27, 26, and 25.

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The principal subjects of the sculpture are a repetition of those at Elephanta, but none of it has the wonderful inspiration of the original. The Dumar Lena might be dated roughly at about the seventh century, at the time when Harsha of Thanesar, Pulakêsin II, and the Pallava dynasty of the south shared between them almost the entire sovereignty of India. Both Ellora and Elephanta were within the Chalukyan king's dominions, and possibly one or both of the temples may have been executed under his patronage.

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The next group, farther to the south of the waterfall and having the same orientation as the Dumar Lena, marks the increasing fame of the Ellora tîrth. The eight shrines in the group, now numbered 24 to 17, are of about the same age as the Dumar Lena. The most remarkable of them is known as the Ramêsvara temple; its noble sculptured front is shown in Pl. LXIV. Opposite the entrance Siva’s bull, Nandi, is raised on a richly carved pedestal. Though very different in proportion and effect to their prototypes in the Kârlê chaitya-house and the Gautamîputra monastery at Nâsik, the decorative motifs of the massive dwarf pillars of the façade are the traditional ones derived from ancient Aryan symbolism. Lakshmî’s water-jar, the cornucopia of India, is used for a capital as the alternative of the amalaka; the legs of the Vedic altar which it was meant to support are here transformed into sculptured figures. The panelled treatment of the low screen-wall connecting the pillars is evidently a reminiscence of the Vedic railing, and the same motif in a modified form appears in the sculptured frieze above the pillars. The two columns in front of the shrine are of the same type as those at Elephanta, and the craftsmanship throughout the temple evidently belongs to the same virile school as the latter, representing the period when the principal seat of the Chalukyan government was at Nâsik instead of at Bâdâmi.

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TRANSVERSE SECTION, KAILÂSA TEMPLE, ELLORA

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Farther south along the line we come next to the chief glory of Ellora, and in some ways the most wonderful *tour de force* achieved by Indian sculptor-architects—the Kailâsa temple. The history of the temple has been ascertained with tolerable certainty. About A.D. 754 Dantivarman, one of the minor chiefs of the Dekhan and the head of the ancient Râshtrakûta clan, overthrew Kîrtivarman II, the descendant of the great Pulakêsin, and assumed supreme power in the Chalukyan territory which his dynasty enjoyed for two and a half centuries.¹ He was soon afterwards deposed by his uncle, Krishna I, who extended his nephew’s conquests and, apparently to celebrate his triumph, had this magnificent Siva temple carved out of the living rock. As Krishna's capital was at Bâdâmi it was natural for him to choose the neighbouring temple of Virûpâksha at Pattadakal as the model for it.

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¹ Vincent Smith, “Early History of India,” p. 256.

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The Kailâsa temple has the usual orientation of a Siva shrine, that is, its entrance faces the setting sun. It derives its name from the Himâlayan mountain which was Siva's mythological paradise; for Siva, like Vishnu, as a nature symbol is a mountain deity, and the high pyramidal towers which covered Siva shrines were meant to represent Kailâsa, just as the sikhara of Vishnu shrines represented Mount Mandara, or Mêru. The distinction between the two symbols was that Siva's mountain was the rugged, white snow-capped peak, soaring above the clouds, where nature was quiescent and as if wrapped in meditation. The cubical cell where the yogi sat in thought alone with the universe was the symbol of it. Vishnu's symbol was the fruitful mountain, whose rounded summit was crowned with deodar or cedar, and the tree- and flower-clad hill glad with the song of birds and teeming with joyous life, like a lotus-flower with turned-down petals offering its nectar to the bees.

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The dedication of the Kailâsa temple to Siva's Himâlayan paradise was not an arbitrary choice; for it had a particular significance in reference to the tîrth of Ellora, which in the imagination of the pilgrim was a sacred place because the rocky hill and its watercourses seemed to reproduce in miniature the Himâlayan mountains and the holy rivers which had their sources there. The army of skilled masons Krishna I had at his command set themselves a gigantic task, which at that time was also a novel one. Instead of merely hollowing out the interior of a temple in the scarp of a hill, or sculpturing one in miniature from a boulder of granite, they cut down into the rock and, quarrying a pit from 50 to 100 feet deep, 250 feet in length, and 160 feet wide, carved out of the middle of it a full-size double-storied temple, considerably larger than the structural one which was its model, adding to it a series of magnificent chapels and monastic halls which were cut deep into the rock on three sides of the quarry, as shown in the transverse section of the temple, Pl. LXV.

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THE KAILÂSA TEMPLE, ELLORA: SOUTH ELEVATION

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FIG. 60.—Plan of Kailâsa Temple, showing the Cloisters and Side-chapels at Ground Level, and the Temple at the Upper-floor Level. Scale, 100 feet to 1 inch. (From Fergusson's "History.")

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The comparative dimensions of the Kailâsa temple and the Virûpâksha temple at Pattadakal can be seen in figs. 60 and 56, which are drawn to the same scale. The general view of the former from the north-west is given in Pl. LXVI. The block in front is the outer gopuram, or entrance, with a fragment of the adjoining walls crowned with the lotus-leaf battlement which is so conspicuous in later Muhammadan fortresses, mosques, and tombs. The first part of the temple inside the gopuram is the two-storied Brahmâ shrine for Siva's bull, connected with the gopuram by a bridge cut into the rock. On either side of this shrine are two fine dhwaja-stambhas, nearly 50 feet high, surmounted by Siva's three-pronged ensign, the trisula, the symbol of the three Aspects. Another bridge connects the Nandi shrine with the splendid porch, or gopuram, which is the front entrance to the twelve-pillared mandapam leading into the antarâla and the holy of holies. The section given in Pl. LXV through the corresponding north and south gopurams shows the arrangement of the interior of the mandapam. It closely follows the design of the Pattadakal temple, but it is considerably larger and more ornate. It is lighted by the gopuram doors, by two other doors opening into the terrace surrounding the vimâna, and also by six windows of almost the same design as those of the Virûpâksha temple which have been already illustrated. The walls of the mandapam on the north, south, and west are decorated with panels of figure sculpture illustrating various mythological subjects, such as that of Dûrgâ slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishâsura, probably an allegory of pyramidal tower of the holy of holies is of the Siva type, based upon the piling up of the yogi's cubicle, as before explained, the crowning member being the stûpa dome. The whole of the main block, including the vimâma, the antarâla, and the mandapam, rests upon a basement, about 27 feet in height, sculptured with a magnificent dado of elephants in very bold relief which seem to be supporting the temple on their backs. The large intervening panels beneath the north and south gopurams of the mandapam are filled with groups of figure sculpture. The fine one under the south gopuram, illustrating the legend of the demon king, Ravana, being imprisoned by Siva under Kailâsa when he impiously attempted to remove it bodily to has this glittering marvel in the centre of it. If the temple were detached from its surroundings and stood in the open, like the Siva's matted locks, were here appropriately worshipped at the gates of his paradise. The goddess Gangâ, standing on a makara, is in the centre; on her right is Sarasvatî with a lotus flower as a pedestal; and the goddess Jumna standing on a tortoise holds the left. The seven sculptured panels on the

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KAILĀSA TEMPLE, ELLORA: ENTRANCE PORCH OF MANDAPAM

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LANKÊŚVARA CHAPEL, KAILÂSA TEMPLE, ELLORA

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FIG. 62.—Shrine of the Sacred Rivers, Kailâsa Temple.

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architrave above probably represent others of the fertilising rivers which water the holy land of Aryâvarta, and the water-jars above them doubtless have a similar significance. The symbol of the rain-cloud, Indra's elephant, stands detached in front of the shrine, and is matched by another one on the opposite side, in front of the small chapel which completed the outer circuit.

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It is reasonable to suppose that several generations of craftsmen were employed in completing the whole scheme of the Kailâsa temple. At the same [Figure: 2. SECTION OF INDRA SABHA JAINA CAVE. LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE INDRA SABHÁ, ELLORA]

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THE INDRA SABHÁ, ELLORA, FROM THE ENTRANCE

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and Buddhists to the places farthest from the chief attraction of the tîrth shows that they were the last comers and had to content themselves with inferior stations. When the Jains began to add to the architectural splendour of the place, about the ninth century, the best available site was on the northern side of the "Ganges source," and at a considerable distance from it, where the two fine temples already alluded to, the Indra Sabhâ and the Jagannath Sabhâ, are located.

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The names of the two temples and the orientation of their shrines indicate that, unlike most of the other shrines at Ellora, it was not the tâmasic aspect of the Trimûrti that was here invoked, but the blessings of the Rain-god, represented by Vishnu the Preserver and his sakti, Lakshmi, the bringer of prosperity. Only, as the temples belonged to the Jain sect, they appealed specially to their saints, the Tîrthankaras, to whom analogous divine powers were attributed. With this qualification the symbolism of the structure and ornament has the same significance as in Brahmanical and Buddhist temples.

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The entrance to the Indra Sabhâ (Pl. LXIX) is completely sculptured out of the living rock, like the Kailâsa temple which it resembles in many respects, though on a considerably smaller scale. It is approached through a gopuram with the usual guard-house sculptured in miniature on the top of it. Immediately within the walls stands the Jain equivalent of Siva's Nandi shrine. The cubical cell is of the Brahmâ type, with a door on each of the four sides, and the square block of stone in the centre of the shrine, sculptured on each side with a figure of Mahavîra, the Jain contemporary of the Buddha, stands for the four-headed Brahmâ symbol as seen at Elephanta. The roof of the shrine is of *panch-ratna* or "four-jewelled" type—that is, a yogi's cell, covered by the stûpa dome in the centre, with four similar ones of smaller size placed at the corners of it. Variety is given to the traditional design by adding a porch, or antarâla, with its deep chhaja to each side of the shrine and corresponding sun-windows or gables filled with sculpture on the roof.

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On the west side of the court, in front of one of the side-chapels, there was, as shown in the illustration, a very splendid Vishnu pillar 31½ feet in height, crowned by a Brahmâ symbol represented by four Jain figures in yogi attitude. The pillar collapsed many years ago. The main block of the Indra Sabhâ consists of a two-storied temple cut into the rock for a depth of over 100 feet, as shown in the section, Pl. LXX. Perhaps the most remarkable of the sculpture of the