So here I am writing a new post on this blog after more than a year.. What can I say, the usual travel and work related stuff perhaps kept me away plus I am more active on my FB Page nowadays {https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Vineet.Official/}. Have hardly been getting any time for elaborate articles lately but there is no way I could have kept myself from doing this one!
When I was a kid, like many other Hindu children, I knew that KAILASH was the abode of Lord Shiva. During all these years, the name brought in front of my eyes images of a beautiful pyramidal peak in the Himalayas, kissed by the clouds and adorned by golden rays of the rising sun.
The majestic Mount Kailash
It was only a few years back that I came to know of the existence of the other Kailash, a man-made architectural wonder in the heart of Maharashtra. Of course I had read about Ajanta & Ellora caves in school but never gave them much thought. It was only because of someone who came in touch with me through my other blog on mythology {Decode Hindu Mythology} that I was reminded of it again. Christel Pilz, the lady I am talking about, is a senior journalist from Germany who is now retired and settled in Thailand and is extremely passionate about the Kailash Cave Temple. She has become a dear friend over the years and is responsible for igniting the spark for this magnificent place in my mind.
The Ellora Cave Temples of Maharashtra are amongst the biggest rock-cut religious complexes in the world. They are a UNESCO World Heritage site that shelters over 100 Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves out of which 34 are open for public viewing. Ellora itself is located about 30 Kms from Aurangabad which also happens to be the nearest airport as well as the biggest city in the vicinity. If you are coming by road, Aurangabad is roughly 330 Kms from Mumbai and there are a few train options available as well. I stayed at Aurangabad with my good friend Tanmay who was kind enough to take me to this wonderful place, but you can also opt to stay at Ellora at the govt. guest house.
How to reach Ellora
Map of Ellora Caves
(Click on the image for better resolution)
While the historical value of all these caves that served as resting places for monks of three different religions can not be undermined, out of all these, the cave number 16 is undoubtedly the most magnificent and is known as the KAILASH TEMPLE.
Kailash Cave Temple - Cave No. 16, Ellora
{Image courtesy Ganesh Umrikar}
None of the other caves come even close to the grandeur of Kailash and if the image above didn't fill you with curiosity yet, let me tell you a little more about it in the following paragraphs. As you pass through the common ticket counter and move towards the dusty brown caves, KAILASH appears right in front of you, a dark rock-cut structure contrasted by the green lawns in front of it. But here lies the catch, it is NOT a rock-cut temple like any other that you may have seen!
Entrance of the Temple
Unlike other cave-monasteries or temples that explore only a part of the original structure, and are worked upon from bottom upwards or inwards, KAILASH has been given shape by hundreds of artisans, painstakingly chiseling out an entire mountain from top to bottom over a period of more than 200 years. Some legends talk about the temple being constructed by Vishwakarma, the architect of the gods in a single night while others mention that its construction happened in a span of 18 years perhaps by the hands of aliens!
A Video on the mysterious Kailash Temple
Most historians believe it is more likely to have taken at least ten generations for the work to get over. This implies, that even while the kings changed, dynasties changed and even the artisans changed, the work on KAILASH did not stop. Surely, there was something that kept them going on? Perhaps, the desire to recreate the sylvan abode of Lord Shiva in the completely opposite environment of Marathwada. Without getting into the debate of who constructed it and when, for there are numerous YouTube videos you can watch on the topic, I wish to focus only on the beauty of the temple in the current post. Before entering, I would urge you to get an outside view by climbing on the hill from which it has been carved out. Trust me the real grandeur of the structure can be witnessed only from an altitude.
View of the temple from above
Climbing down from the other side, you are now ready to truly appreciate the magnificent art of Kailash starting with the entrance. The massive structure resembles a chariot that is designed to carry the main deity to whom the temple is dedicated. I was lucky to have Yogesh Joshi, a local Indologist to take us through the significance of every single sculpture, and I advise you to take a guide if you truly wish to understand what it all means.
As one moves towards the entrance from the left hand side, the Ashta-dikpals or the Eight Guardian Deities greet the visitors. For those who do not know, these eight keepers of the directions are:
1. INDRA - Guardian of the East
2. AGNI - South-east
3. YAMA - South
4. NIRRIT - South-west
5. VARUN - West
6. VAYU - North-west
7. KUBER - North
8. ISHAN - North-east
On the right wall are heavily damaged sculptures of Lord Vishnu's incarnations like Varah, and Narasimha. It is said that the fanatic Mughal king Aurangzeb (who gave his name to the nearby city and is also buried close by) tried his best to demolish this temple but did not succeed in causing any permanent harm.
Lord Vishnu's sculptures on the outer wall
As we enter the gates, we are flanked by the statues of Rishis Ved-Vyas and Valmiki on the left and the right respectively. It is important to note this because the left side wall of the main temple inside is decorated with panels from Mahabharat which was written by Vyas, while the right wall has depictions of the Ramayan composed by Valmiki - such attention to detail!
The very first sculpture that you notice as you enter is the Gaja-Lakshmi, the Goddess of Fortune flanked by elephants showering her with holy water. Although again heavily damaged, the beauty of this panel is that the elephants are shown in motion, their ornamental chains swaying with their movement as they pass on the vessels of water to each other!
Gajalakshmi facing the entrance
The right panel of the entrance sports an image of Mother Durga chastising the demon Mahishasur while the left panel shows a massive Ganpati. We moved in a clockwise direction and were greeted by another better preserved image of the fight between the forces of darkness and Durga followed by a set of unlikely sculptures in a Shiva temple - a panel depicting Kamdeva and Rati, the Hindu god of Love with his consort. It may be worthwhile to remember that it was Lord Shiva who had burnt the Hindu version of cupid to ashes for daring to disturb Shiva's meditation so his presence here was entirely unexpected for me!
Goddess Durga battles the demons
An unexpected panel
One can't help but notice the attention to detail as you move along the perimeter coming to the shrine of the three rivers. To my knowledge, this is the only ancient temple that depicts such life-like statues of Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati together! The fluidity of their bodies and the movement of their clothes is mesmerizing and they stand together as one, river goddesses blessing a land that has seen some of the worst droughts in the country.
Saraswati, Ganga and Yamuna river goddesses together
Further moving along the left perimeter, we see a pillared walkway that continues all the way to the opposite side housing within it multiple sculptures depicting stories of Shiva as well as Lord Vishnu's ten incarnations, the Dashavatar. While they are worth exploring for sure, what arrested my attention is the outer wall of the main sanctum that is embellished with some finely executed artwork. The Vijay Stambh or Victory Tower flanked by a broken elephant catches your attention and at various places you can also notice paint that has been washed off by years of rains and exposure to the elements.
The Dancing Shiva - Nataraja
All along the base of the shrine there are massive elephants and Yalis supporting the structure above them. I also spotted a few Sphinxes or Purush-mriga as they are called in Sanskrit, and marveled at the amount of precision required to carve such huge animals right next to each other from a single rock. Did I mention earler that KAILASH is also the BIGGEST MONOLTHIC STRUCTURE in the WORLD! None of the sculptures that you see have been added later rather everything, from the angels flying above to the elephants below has been carved out of the same rock with painstaking precision.
The Elephant Plinth
The actual shrine is on the first floor and houses a massive Shivalingam - the aniconic symbol of Shiva who had for the very first time appeared as a pillar of fire. Inside you can also find a well-preserved painting of Nataraj done on the ceiling and even though it is quite small, it is absolutely gorgeous. On the right outer wall of the shrine there is another intriguing sculpture that has given rise to another ancient aliens theory. It is a sculpture of Ravan carrying Sita ji away in his Pushpak Viman which surprisingly shows Pushpak not as a spacecraft, but as a jetpack! Again there is a video on this and I am sharing the same with you here.
Ravan flying on jetpack confronted by jatayu
Video on this particular sculpture
There are numerous mysteries surrounding KAILASH and many people believe that the temple was built not by humans but by extra-terrestrial beings. The top of the Shrine supports an X shaped structure flanked by four lions which is visible from the sky. Some people claim that it was a sign for guiding ancient aircrafts to land while others talk about the numerous underground tunnels that exist below the temple and wonder what they contain.
Whatever be the truth, the KAILASH of Ellora is certainly as mysterious as the Kailash of the Himalayas & one can only imagine how this place would have looked when it was first created. We can get a glimpse of that from a recently released Malayalam movie - Veeram and I share a few stills that capture the mood of the era brilliantly.
There are many other images that I can share with you to show the beauty of this stunning feat of ancient architecture but I would limit myself here to one last image of Shiva, the patron deity of the temple shown as Bhairav, the terrible one. DO visit Ellora at least once in your lifetime, for places like KAILASH do not just belong to one region or religion but hold the deep mysteries of humanity's past.
For all those who are interested in knowing more about this historical as well as mysterious heritage, do check out the page SAVE KAILASH created by Christel Plz, myself and our friend Avimanyu - {https://www.facebook.com/groups/SaveKailash/}. You can also sign the below petition that we have started to bring the Indian government's attention to this structure and the need to restore it back to its original glory.
Aum Namah Shivaye!
