A giant monolithic temple complex together with Buddhist, Hindu and Jainist caves - Ellora Caves 243; Tradition of Vedic chanting 00062
What and Why
Ellora Caves (Hindi: एलोरा गुफाएं) is a massive rock-cut temple complex in the world, featuring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments, sculptures and artwork, dating back from 9th century CE. The most important piece of this complex is the Kailāśa (कैलास) temple, which is a huge alien space-ship / chariot looking temple which is carved out from a single massive piece of rock!
Similar to the Ajanta Caves (अजंता गुफाएँ) in the blogged Fardapur (फर्दपुर) in the same region, Ellora served as monasteries, temples, commercial centre and rest sentinel for pilgrims, as the site's location on an ancient South Asian trade route. Moreover the presence of at least three religions in the temple clusters, shows the harmonious religious co-existence during the time.
Toponymy
The name derives a corrupted form of the ancient name Elāpura (Sanskrit: एलापुर), which is the first maṇḍala (Sanskrit: मण्डल) of one of the internal mystic centre Khecarīcakra (Sanskrit: खेचरीचक्र) in Hinduism. Aurangabad (औरंगाबाद) was named after the famous prince Aurangzeb (Persian: اورنگزیب, né محی الدین محمد (Persian), Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad) meaning the ornament of the throne. Aurangzeb was the sixth Mughal emperor, famed for being the king who locked up his father was Shah Jahan (Persian, شاه جهان, né شهاب الدین محمد خرم (Persian), Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram), for building the Tāj Mahal (ताजमहल), which is blogged in Agra (आगरा).
See
We started our journey furthest from the main entrance and worked our way back. All these caves are located on the plain along an approximate straight path.
Jain Caves 30 to 34
The first few caves are largely devoted to Jainism.
The Indra Sabha (Cave 32) is a two-storey cave with a monolithic shrine in its court. The Indra Sabha Jain temple is historically significant as it contains evidence of active worship inside by the Jain community. In particular, rituals were known to have been held in the upper level, where the artwork may have played a central role.
The Chhotta Kailāśa, meaning little Kailasa, is so named due to the similarity of the carvings to those in the Kailasha temple, although from the outside it looks very different. The temple features two larger-than-life size sculptures of dancing Indra, reminiscent of the dancing Shiva (Sanskrit: शिव, Śiva) artworks. However, the iconography has several differences that indicate this cave shows a dancing Indra and not a dancing Shiva. Another important element of this temple is that it suggests that this used to be a Hindu temple, but later converted to a Jain one.
The chariot-temple inside Cave 30.
Hindu Caves 13 to 29
The caves in the middle are largely Hindu.
The Daśāvatāra (Sanskrit: दशावतार) temple, or Cave 15, is another significant excavation: it has cells and a layout plan and suggests this cave was intended to be a Buddhist cave. The Hindu temple housed in Cave 15 has an open court with a free-standing monolithic mandapa (pillared pavilion) at the middle and a two-storeyed excavated temple at the rear.
Large sculptural panels between the wall columns on the upper floor illustrate a wide range of themes, including the ten avatars of Vishnu (Sanskrit: विष्णु, Viṣṇu). The movie shows the inner part of Cave 15.
Kailāśa temple (Cave 16)
Easily the most recognised monument in the area, the Kailāśa temple is a surreal alien star-wars spaceship-like megalith carved and chiselled from a rock cliff of 85,000 m3 and is considered one of the most remarkable cave temples in the world. Its mere size, engineering, architecture and sculpture definitely mesmerise any visitor. According to Wikipedia it is the 'climax of the rock-cut Indian architecture' and a 'world-wonder'. Similar to the other Hindu temple in the series, the temple architecture shows traces of Pallav-Chalukya styles.
The temple is named and inspired by Mount Kailash (Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; Gang Rinpoche) in Tibet, a mountain considered to be sacred in four religions: Bon, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. The name derives from kelāsa (Sanskrit: केलास), meaning crystal. This mountain is famously portrayed in the Chinese movie Path of The Soul / Kang Rinpoche (Chinese: 冈仁波齐, Gangrenboqi).
The top of the superstructure over the sanctuary is 32.6 metres above the level of the court below. The temple is the largest of the cave temples in the Ellora Caves. The temple architecture shows traces of both Pallava and Chalukya styles. The temple contains a number of reliefs and free-standing sculptures on a grand scale equal to the architecture, though only traces remain of the paintings which originally decorated it.
The temple itself is modelled along similar lines to other Hindu temples with a gateway, an assembly hall, a multi-storey main temple surrounded by numerous shrines, an integrated space for circumambulation, a garbha-grihya (sanctum sanctorum) wherein resides the lingam (Sanskrit: लिङ्गम), and a spire-shaped like Mount Kailash – all carved from one rock. Everything is integrated through connecting bridges, staircases and courtyard.
Within the courtyard, there is a central shrine dedicated to Shiva, and an image of his sacred mount-bull Nandi (Sanskrit: नन्दि). The central shrine housing the lingam features a flat-roofed mandapa supported by 16 pillars. Hanging stone bridges are built to connect one with another, really looking like a surreal massive space structure.
Another view.
The view from the side and top.
The mandala on the top.
Ramayana (Sanskrit: रामायणम्), one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Mahābhārata (Sanskrit: महाभारतम्) is carved with extreme details at the foot of the temple. Honestly what did they do it?
Buddhist Caves 1 to 12
These caves are located on the southern end near the entrance and were built either during the 7th century CE. These Buddhist caves consist of vihāra (Sanskrit: विहार) or monasteries with prayer halls. The monastery caves have shrines including carvings of Buddha, bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व) and other buddhist saints like in Cave 10 which is a monastic nave like Ajanta.
Bibi Ka Maqbara
In the city of Aurangabad, one very interesting monument deserving a visit is Bibi Ka Maqbara (Persian: مقبره بیبی), meaning tomb of the lady. Affectionately nicknamed the Baby Tāj Mahal for obvious reason, this is the tomb of Aurangzeb's first wife Dilras Banu Begum (Persian: دلرس بانو بیگم). Aurangzeb is well-known for his disinterest with elaborate architecture (he imprisoned his own father for wasting money in building the Tāj Mahal afterall), it is the largest structure that Aurangzeb has to his credit.
City gates (शहर के द्वार)
Aurangabad is a city of gates, there are more than 50 of them around the city. One will pass by a few as you drive around or in-and-out of the city. Many of them well constructed.
Buy and Do
Vedic chant (वेदपाठ)
We were introduced to the tradition of vedic chanting when we walked past some kind of a monastery, when we witnessed a group of young boys learning to recite the Vedas (Sanskrit: वेद, vedaḥ), meaning knowledge, the large body of religious texts originating in ancient India and what constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and Hinduism scriptures, the earliest dating back to 1000 BCE.
Vedas are perpetuated through śruti (Sanskrit: श्रुति), meaning 'what is heard', and hence the practice of chanting the text out loud has always been an important element of the transmission of the Vedas, throughout history. In fact Vedic scholars and readers would consider that text robbed of their essence when transferred to paper, for without the human element, like the innumerable nuances and fine intonations, the texts would be soulless and are lost completely.
Vedic chant are often considered the oldest unbroken oral tradition in existence, and is perhaps the oldest religious text in continuous use, and still in use. As a result this is the earliest inscribed ICH.
There are four Vedas:
Rigveda (Sanskrit: ऋग्वेद, Ṛgveda): religious hymns;
Yajurveda (Sanskrit: यजुर्वेद): prose of religious rituals;
Sāmaveda (Sanskrit: सामवेद): melodies and chants that mostly came from Rigveda; and
Atharvaveda (Sanskrit: अथर्ववेदः, Atharvavedaḥ): procedures and knowledge of daily lives.
The Vedas literally shapes and embodies the entire philosophical, sociological, ethical and partly astrological structure of the Indian civilisation. Vedas and Vedic rituals and its ancillary sciences called the Vedangas, were part of the curriculum at ancient universities such as at Nālandā (नालंदा). Vedas does not contain too much science in its texts, perhaps bits of it Atharvaveda, though many texts falsely claim to derive from Vedic sources, including the so-called Vedic mathematics, which I was originally misguided into.
Eat and Drink
Paan (पान), from the Sanskrit word parṇa (पर्ण) meaning leaf, is a national 'chewing-gum snack' that is very popular in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Effectively it is betel leaf wrap with areca nut, and various sweeteners and flavours, usually in a paste, are added into the wrap, in particular stimulants like tobacco and caustic lime. It is chewed for its stimulant effects and apparently the Aurangbad version is unique in the region and something not too be missed.
Chewing paan is nowadays considered a nuisance in many countries because many chewers spit the paan out in public areas. The red stain generated by the ingredients is quite an unhygienic eye-sore, though some ridiculously see it as part of Indian culture. The caustic lime and tobacco used in paan also damages the teeth and the buccal cavity, and many chewers develop mouth cancer as a result.
I tried a non-tobacco, non-lime version of the paan which merely contains chocolate and some sweet gum. You can see my reception to it.
Getting There and Around
The Ellora Caves are located just 30 km away from the city centre of Aurangabad, and obviously you need to drive there, although there are many buses serving the site from Aurangabad as well. The entire site is fully walkable. The entrance fee to the site is INR 600₹. Spend a day there.
One notable issue in travelling in India is the harassment you might face as a foreigner, man or woman. Apparently locals are too eager to take photographs with foreigners and many a times they can get very aggressive. There are signages in both Ellora and Ajanta Caves that warn of this potential harassment. In fact two of my female friends were reduced to tears in Ellora Caves as they were literally swamped with 'far-too-keen' youngsters getting too close to them, as picture shown below, either wanting a picture or probably something untoward. You can imagine the threat and sort of understand why India has developed this unwanted reputation of 'Women got raped, men got kidnapped'.
UNESCO Inscriptions
These 34 monasteries and temples, extending over more than 2 km, were dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff, not far from Aurangabad, in Maharashtra. Ellora, with its uninterrupted sequence of monuments dating from A.D. 600 to 1000, brings the civilization of ancient India to life. Not only is the Ellora complex a unique artistic creation and a technological exploit but, with its sanctuaries devoted to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, it illustrates the spirit of tolerance that was characteristic of ancient India.
The Vedas comprise a vast corpus of Sanskrit poetry, philosophical dialogue, myth, and ritual incantations developed and composed by Aryans over 3,500 years ago. Regarded by Hindus as the primary source of knowledge and the sacred foundation of their religion, the Vedas embody one of the world’s oldest surviving cultural traditions.
The Vedic heritage embraces a multitude of texts and interpretations collected in four Vedas, commonly referred to as “books of knowledge” even though they have been transmitted orally. The Rig Veda is an anthology of sacred hymns; the Sama Veda features musical arrangements of hymns from the Rig Veda and other sources; the Yajur Veda abounds in prayers and sacrificial formulae used by priests; and the Atharna Veda includes incantations and spells. The Vedas also offer insight into the history of Hinduism and the early development of several artistic, scientific and philosophical concepts, such as the concept of zero.
Expressed in the Vedic language, which is derived from classical Sanskrit, the verses of the Vedas were traditionally chanted during sacred rituals and recited daily in Vedic communities. The value of this tradition lies not only in the rich content of its oral literature but also in the ingenious techniques employed by the Brahmin priests in preserving the texts intact over thousands of years. To ensure that the sound of each word remains unaltered, practitioners are taught from childhood complex recitation techniques that are based on tonal accents, a unique manner of pronouncing each letter and specific speech combinations.
Although the Vedas continue to play an important role in contemporary Indian life, only thirteen of the over one thousand Vedic recitation branches have survived. Moreover, four noted schools – in Maharashtra (central India), Kerala and Karnataka (southern India) and Orissa (eastern India) – are considered under imminent threat.
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