Caves of Culture
- POSTED ON: 12 Jul, 2022
- TOTAL VIEWS: 266 Views
- POSTED BY: Rohini Ramakrishnan | Article by R. Krithika
- ARTICLE POINTS: 150 Points
AJANTA CAVES
In 1819, British cavalry officer John Smith was on a tiger hunt near the Waghira river in the Sahyadri ranges when he spotted the mouth of a cave. Climbing up for around 70 metres, he entered a cave filled with ancient religious art. These were the Ajanta Caves, abandoned in the fifth century CE. In 1844, the Royal Asiatic Society commissioned Major Robert Gill to create reproductions of the wall paintings on canvas. Further investigations revealed prayer halls and monasteries hewn from solid rock.
Research showed that, in ancient times, the caves were occupied by Buddhist monks during the monsoon. Not only did they spend time on discussions and meditation but also in painting the walls with frescoes. The majority of the paintings depict stories from the Jatakas, that highlight the life of Buddha in earlier avatars. A striking feature of these paintings is the absence of the colour blue.
There are 29 caves of which 25 were used as viharas or residential caves while four were used as chaityas or prayer halls. After the fifth century, these caves were abandoned. The Chinese travellers Faxian (Fa Hein) and Xuanzang (Hieun Tsang) refer to these caves in their works.
The caves were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. In 1999, a team from the Archaeological Survey of India discovered that these ancient artists used intense colours, shading and three-dimensional techniques.
ELLORA CAVES
The Ellora caves are located nearly 100 km away from the Ajanta Caves in the same Sahyadri mountain range. This group of 34 caves were developed between the fifth and 11th centuries CE by guilds from Vidarbha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Of the 34, 17 are Hindu, 12 Buddhist and five Jain. They highlight the spirit of tolerance that allowed three religions to establish their communities in a single place. In terms of themes and architecture, these caves reflect a diversity.
The most remarkable of this group is the Kailasa Cave temple, the larges single monolithic rock excavation in the world. The sculptors are believed to have started from the top and excavated downwards. Archaelogists estimate that around 400,000 tonnes of rock were removed from the site during the excavation.
The five Jain caves, excavated between the ninth and early 10th centuries, belonged to the Digambara sect. Though smaller than the Buddhist and Hindu caves, they have highly detailed carvings.
The Ellora complex was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.