Ellora Caves Are Painted, Sculpted Temples Like and Unlike Ajanta Caves

Summary: The Ellora Caves are cave temples that, unlike the Ajanta Caves, accommodate more South than North Deccan architectural arts in Mahahrashtra, India.

"The Mountain of Ellora (first view), 1803 colored aquatint by English landscape painter Thomas Daniell (1749-March 19, 1840), from drawing by Scottish artist James Wales (1747-1795); view shows Hindu caves, which are situated in the middle of the cave complex; Plate I of three-plate series, Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora Near Aurangabad; British Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Ellora Caves, architecturally and artistically amazing World Heritage Centre site, attracts admirers of cave temple paintings and cave temple sculptures that accommodate three main religions in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India.

The Ellora Caves, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre (WHC) site since Dec. 9, 1983, brings together Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. The cultural coordination of three subcontinental religions into one, 100-plus-cavern spiritual creation contributed to UNESCO WHC choices to confer outstanding universal value upon the Ellora Caves. The UNESCO WHC List draws together the Ajanta Caves and the Ellora Caves, despite the former's dominant dedication to Buddhist devotions and their 60-mile (96.56-kilometer) distance.

Itinerant artisans, merchants and monks excavated the 30-cavern Ajanta Caves 1,300 to 2,300 years ago and then the 100-plus-cavern Ellora Caves 800 to 1,600 years ago.

Itinerant artisans formed the Ajanta Caves  and then the Ellora Caves respectively into and onto the near-perpendicular cliffs of the Sahyadri Hills (from Sanskrit सह्याद्रि, "benevolent").

Perhaps North and South Deccan (from Hindi दक्खिन and Urdu دکھن‎, "south, southern") itinerant artisanship and artistry respectively generated the Ajanta Caves and the Ellora Caves. The itinerant artisans of the Ajanta Caves perhaps had as collateral or direct ancestors itinerant artists of 1,000 to 30,000-year-old red and white-painted Bhimbetka rock shelters. They perhaps, as possible collateral or direct ancestors, inspired resident artists of Mandana wall paintings in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and Warli wall paintings in Maharashtra.

The itinerant artisans and artists of the Ellora Caves perhaps journeyed, perhaps not, architecturally and artistically from North to South Deccan rock-excavating, rock-painting and rock-sculpting styles.

The itinerant artisans and artists of the Ellora Caves knew rulers similarly tolerant to the Satavahana and Vakataka dynasts of their predecessors in the Ajanta Caves.

The Hinduism-linked Satavahana Empire (271 B.C.E.?-225 C.E.?) never let the Buddhist-linked, first-phase Ajanta Caves of the third through the first centuries B.C.E. languish architecturally or artistically. The Hinduism-motivated Vakataka Empire (250 C.E.?-500 C.E.?) never moved against the Buddhist-motivated, second-phase Ajanta Caves of the fifth through the sixth, seventh or eighth centuries C.E. The Chalukya (543-753) and the Rashtrakuta (753-982) dynasties and the Western Chalukya Empire (973-1189) nourished the Buddhist, Hindu and Jainist religions that the Ellora Caves nurtured.

The three religions of three successively ruling dynasties never obstructed the origins and operations of Buddhist-oriented Ellora Caves 1 through 12 and Hindu-oriented 13 through 29.

Itinerant artisans and artists perhaps produced the excavated, painted and sculpted Ellora Caves as early as the fourth century through as late as the thirteenth century.

Itinerant artisans and artists suddenly quit their cave ceiling and wall paintings; cave ceiling, pillar and wall sculptures; and cave temple excavations at the Ajanta Caves. They perhaps remained at the Ajanta Caves until 722 at the latest and relocated to the Ellora Caves, to realize the Jainist caves 30 through 34. The Yadava dynasty (860?-1317) supported Hinduism and Jainism, so the former and the latter respectively sustained the most and the last sites among the Ellora Caves.

Later Ajanta Caves and earlier Ellora Caves perhaps teamed cave temple techniques by the same itinerant artisans with Ajanta-type North, Ellora-type South or cross-trained itinerant artists.

panorama of Ellora Caves, Maharashtra state, western peninsular India; Saturday, June 9, 2012: Apurv Kiri, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"The Mountain of Ellora (first view), 1803 colored aquatint by English landscape painter Thomas Daniell (1749-March 19, 1840), from drawing by Scottish artist James Wales (1747-1795); view shows Hindu caves, which are situated in the middle of the cave complex; Plate I of three-plate series, Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora Near Aurangabad; British Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_mountain_of_Ellora_(first_view),_by_Thomas_Daniell_and_James_Wales,_1803.jpeg

panorama of Ellora Caves, Maharashtra state, western peninsular India; Saturday, June 9, 2012: Apurv Kiri, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/apurvkiri/7176760023/

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