Ellora Hindu Cave 13 Perhaps Acted as Abode of Ganesha and Wayfarers

Summary: Ellora Hindu Cave 13 in Maharashtra, India, perhaps accommodated pilgrim merchants, monks and traders whom the deity Ganesha accepted as god of wayfarers.

Vicinity of Ellora Hindu Cave 13 (center left of treee) provides visitors with restful view; Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, 16:59: Udaykumar PR, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Ellora Hindu Cave 13 in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, perhaps acknowledged the deity Ganesha as the Hindu god of all wayfarers by accommodating pilgrim merchants, monks and traders through overnight arrangements.

The thirteenth cave from the southern entrance to the 1.24-mile- (2-kilometer-) long basalt cliff bearing Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples perhaps boarded Shaivite Hindu believers. Ganesha (from Sanskrit गाणेश, "songmaster"), child of Shiva and Parvati, communicates cogent courses of action for conquering personal and professional chaos and correct choices at crossroads. Perhaps itinerant artisans under Rashtrakuta (from Sanskrit राष्ट्रकूट, "country chieftain") dynasts (753-982 C.E.) designed a rest destination for Hindu devotees desirous of more than one-day devotions.

Cave exteriors sometimes expose the exact employment of cave interiors even as the exterior wall of the first of 17 Ellora Hindu Caves no longer exists.

Shaivite (from Sanskrit शिव, "auspicious") Hindu (from Sanskrit सिन्धु, "stream") artisans, merchants, monks and traders perhaps filled Ellora Hindu Cave 13, whose patron fathered their patron.

The fertility and storm god of worlds destroyed between worlds recreated and his consort Parvati (from Sanskrit पर्वति, "stone") generated an epic-writing, obstacle-removing, path-finding, scripture-savvy god. Honoring Ganesha after other deities or not at all before heading out for personal and professional happenings always heralds harm, hindrances and horrors, never healthy happiness. An ignoble instance involves rakshasa (from Sanskrit राक्षस, "demoniacal") King Ravana (from Sanskrit रवण, "roaring") inveigling consort Parvati and fertility icon from Shiva without invoking Ganesha.

Vishnu (from Sanskrit विष्णु, "all-pervasive"), god of world preservation, joined with Ganesha so Ravana jettisoned the fertility icon in southern India and Parvati journeyed back home.

Ellora Hindu Cave 13 perhaps kept overnight, or longer, cave temple patrons and pilgrims whose kinetic lifestyles kindled knowing how, when, where, why to invoke Ganesha.

Elephant-headed, four-armed, yellow-skinned Ganesha, with one tusk and pot belly, perhaps looks not at all like the likeliest launch for living, or losing out on, life. His father made him mighty master of Ganadevata (from Sanskrit गणदेवता, "song deities") hosts on Mount Kailasa (from Sanskrit कैलास, "crystal") and personal and professional maneuvering. Twelve Adiya (from Sanskrit आदित्य, "solar") and 12 Sadhya (from Sanskrit साध्य, "accomplishable") Ganadevata hosts respectively nurture 12 annual solar phases and Vedic prayers and rites.

Visvadeva (from Sanskrit विश्वदेव, "all-pervading deities"), Vasu (from Sanskrit वसु, "sweet") and 49 Marut (from Sanskrit मरुत्, "breeze") deities respectively operationalize funeral offerings, natural phenomena and storms.

Ellora Hindu Cave 13 preserves no carved, painted, sculpted presence of the prepossessing progeny for whom Indra, Parvati, Shiva, perhaps Vishnu performed premier head transplant procedures.

Parvati's curse, sagely Kasyapa's (from Sanskrit कश्यप, "black-toothed") curse, Saturnian god Sani's (from Sanskrit शनि, "honor-giving") smoldering sight or Shiva's jealousy quit Ganesha of his head. Perhaps storm god Indra's (from Sanskrit इण्ड्र, "raindrop-possessing") elephant revived fruit-loving, rat-riding Ganesha, whose four hands retain club or goad, discus, shell and water-lily. Ganesha, not splendid war-god sibling Karttikeya (from Sanskrit कार्त्तिकेय, "Pleiades"), serves as spouse to stunning Buddhi (from Sanskrit बुद्धि, "perception") and Siddhi (from Sanskrit सिद्धि, "accomplishment").

Perhaps transient traders and tradesmen traipsed through Ellora Hi

Ellora Hindu Cave 13 (right), located to the right of Ellora Hindu Cave 14 (left), is thought to have sheltered wayfarers; Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, 17:00: Udaykumar PR, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Vicinity of Ellora Hindu Cave 13 (center left of treee) provides visitors with restful view; Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, 16:59: Udaykumar PR, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellora_Caves,_Maharashtra_-_panoramio_(135).jpg; Udaykumar PR, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Panoramio at Internet Archive Wayback Machine @ https://web.archive.org/web/20161028003952/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/94512847

Ellora Hindu Cave 13 (right), located to the right of Ellora Hindu Cave 14 (left), is thought to have sheltered wayfarers; Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, 17:00: Udaykumar PR, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellora_Caves,_Maharashtra_-_panoramio_(134).jpg; Udaykumar PR, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Panoramio at Internet Archive Wayback Machine @ https://web.archive.org/web/20161102214617/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/94512862

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