Over a thousand years ago, a quiet village named Elapura in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra was chosen to be the site where powerful dynasties would bring their best artists, artisans, and architects to showcase their talents and the devotion the kings and their subjects had for the gods of their faith. Over centuries the site evolved, changing hands and faiths, and today it is home to some of the greatest Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain rock-cut cave temples in India.
Ellora attempts the first systematic overview of the Ellora cave temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, excavated between 600 CE and 1000 CE that are a stunning testament to ancient Indian art. Seeking to capture the essence of Ellora, this volume brings a comprehensive understanding of the chronology and stylistic development of the 34 main caves and lesser caves of the site. Investigating each of the three groups of rock-cut temples by religion and myths, patronage and the economics of a monastery, stylistic influence and exchange, and the process of carving and completion, the contributing authors reveal the integrity, the energy and the brilliance of Ellora.
Ellora also includes extensive photographic documentation, ground plans, and rarely seen early 19th-century etchings of the most significant caves—from Thomas Daniell’s hand-coloured aquatints (based on James Wales’s drawings) to Raja Lala Deen Dayal’s pioneering photographs; M.F. Pithawalla’s detailed watercolours; and James Burgess’s plans done for the Archaeological Survey of India.
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The Kailas at Ellora:
Here, for the first time, American architect Roger Vogler examines this great Hindu temple—carved downward from the top of a hillside in Maharashtra—from the perspective of his fellow architect: the unknown sthapati who actually designed it thirteen centuries ago.
The Kailas’s magnificent sculptures and carved architectural details have all been extensively documented by many eminent scholars. The great volume of space that envelops them (which as every architect knows is designed with fully as much care and purpose as its solid stone) is, however, almost totally absent from their writings, as are the moral and religious messages that lie beneath these stones, hidden in metaphor. Not the least of these are the towering raw cliffs enclosing the temple’s precincts: themselves metaphors for the presence of God.
These absences have led to dozens of misunderstandings and erroneous conclusions regarding the monument itself and the intentions of its designer. Focusing not merely on its stones but on the meanings that lie beneath them as well, this book corrects these misunderstandings and rebuts these errors in the course of an entertaining and revelatory walking tour of the entire temple.
Ellora:
Deepanjana Klein, PhD, is the Special Advisor to the Chairperson, and the Director of Acquisitions and Development, at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.
Arno Klein, PhD, is the Director of Innovative Technologies at the Child Mind Institute in New York City.
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The Kailas at Ellora:
American architect Roger Vogler served as onsite consultant for design and construction of the Indian Institute of Technology campus at Kanpur from1968 to 1971. He subsequently served as Director of Facilities Planning for the University of Connecticut and the University System of New Hampshire in addition to maintaining an active architectural practice over a period of 40 years. His experience of the Kailas, which he considers among the world’s greatest works of architecture, spans 55 years.
| Language(s) | English |
| Co-publisher(s) | Mapin Publishing |