Ellora Jain Cave 30 Applies Hindu Mythology to Meditative Asceticism

Summary: Ellora Jain Cave 30, as the Chhota Kailasa cave temple, archives Hindu mythology for admirers of adorational meditative asceticism in Maharashtra, India.

exterior view of Ellora Jain Cave 30; Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, 14:01:09: François Zeller from Montreal, Canada, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Common

Ellora Jain Cave 30, under the appellation Chhota Kailasa in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, appeals to ardent admirers of adorational meditational asceticism; ancient cave temples; and architectural, artistic, sculptured Hindu mythology.

Perhaps Hindu itinerant artisans and monks built 1,170- to 1,220-year-old Ellora Jain Cave 30 and Ellora Jain Caves 31 through 33 between 800 and 850 C.E. Perhaps they constructed Ellora Jain Cave 30 and Ellora Jain Cave 32, called Indrasabha (from Sanskrit इन्द्रसभा, "[lightning, thunder god] Indra's court"), as celebratory Hindu caverns. They drew for Ellora Jain Cave 30 and Ellora Jain Cave 32 upon the Ellora Hindu Cave 16 cavern temple design and upon the deity Indra.

Ellora Hindu Cave 16 and Ellora Jain Cave 30, entitled as Chhota Kailasa (from Sanskrit चोट, "textile" and कैलास, "crystal"), embrace Mount Kailasa of Hindu mythology.

Hindu itinerant artisans and monks fashioned Ellora Hindu Cave 16 as the Kailasa cave temple for the faithful followers of the deity Shiva (from Sanskrit शिव, "auspicious").

Veronica Ions, in Indian Mythology, for Paul Hamlyn of London, England, in 1979, groups mountain ranges as gauging godly strength or generating demonic or godly missiles. The Himalayan (from Sanskrit हिम, "winter" and अलय, "residence") mountain system holds Mount Kailasa as the heavenly home that houses Shiva, who never hinders collateral harm. Karttikeya (from Sanskrit कार्त्तिकेय, "Pleiades") initiated a mountain makeover by impelling his lance against Mount Kailasa and by installing the Krauncha Pass between the split mountainsides.

Rakshasa (from Sanskrit राक्षस, "demon") King Ravana (from Sanskrit रवण, "screaming") of Lanka in ancient Ceylon and the storm god Indra joined in on Kailasa makeovers.

Mount Kailasa keeps a mountain pass but neither tops nor wings because of the respective furies of war god Karttikeya, King Ravana and storm god Indra.

Indra far more than Shiva links with Ellora Jain Caves 30 through 34 and lives on Mount Meru (from Sanskrit मेरु, "central"), not on Mount Kailasa. One main Jain sect maintains that wealth god Kubera (from Sanskrit कुबेर, "bad-limbed") made off with enlightened Mahavira's (from Sanskrit महावीर, "warrior") clothes. The other main Jain sect notes Indra as divine bodyguard to 24th Tirthankara Mahavira (599/539?-527/467? B.C.E.) and divine supplier of a soul-liberating white robe against nudity.

The Digambara (from Sanskrit दिगम्बर, "unclothed"), not the Swetambara (from Sanskrit श्वेत, "white" and अम्बर, "cloth"), Jain sect operated Ellora Jain Cave 30.

Ellora Hindu Cave 6 and Ellora Jain Cave 30 respectively promoted Shiva Mahadeva (from Sanskrit मह, "great" and देव, "deity") and, despite a Hindu start, Indra.

Ellora Jain Cave 30 queues up two reliefs larger than life-sized of crowned, dancing Indra, one with eight ornamented arms and another with 12 ornamented arms. It reveals King Samvarana, husband of the nymph Tapati, son-in-law of the sun god Surya and the handmaiden Chhaya and co-parent of Kuru of the Mahabharata. Kuru served as common ancestor to the Kaurava and the Pandava clans whose struggle the hermit Vyana's Mahabharata (from Sanskrit मह, "great" and भरट, "potter") stores.

Hindu mythology reliefs, Kailasa temple architecture and Tirthankara reliefs tell of first Hindu, then Jain itinerant artisan monks turning four excavations into Ellora Jain Cave 30.

interior view of Ellora Jain Cave 30; Friday, Sep. 21, 2018, 00:08: Vengolis, CC BY SA 4.0 International, 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:

exterior view of Ellora Jain Cave 30; Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, 14:01:09: François Zeller from Montreal, Canada, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jaïn_temple_-_Ellora_(Maharastra,_India)_(33649580886).jpg; François Zeller (François Zeller), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/franzeller/33649580886/

interior view of Ellora Jain Cave 30; Friday, Sep. 21, 2018, 00:08: Vengolis, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellora_Caves_0567.jpg

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