The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c20.14

c20.14

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.