A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.50

c21.50

Progress in the erection of structural temples did not mean the cessation of rock-architecture, which continued to flourish to the end of the ninth century. Its final manifestation occurred in three localities, namely: Ellora, already in the occupation of Buddhists for over 200 years; the islands of Elephanta and Salsette near Bombay; and the Pallava kingdom in the far South. At Ellora, the brahminical group (spread over half a mile along the west face of the hill) contains sixteen temples. They fall into three or four types. The simplest is still much under the influence of the Buddhist vihāra and is just a pillared portico with a cella beyond, like the Daśāvatār cave. The second type was similar to the first except for the passage round the cella, as in Rāvaṇa-kā-khai and Rāmeśvara. In the third type, the shrine stands in the centre of a cruciform hall having more than one entrance to it, as in the Dumarlena, the temple at Elephanta, and the Jogeśvara in Salsette. Lastly, the culmination of this architecture came in the monolithic temple of Kailāsa which stands in a class by itself and in which an entire structural temple in all its details is carved out of the living rock.