The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c20.19

c20.19

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.