Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
30 kms NW of Aurungabad, and of Mahabalipuram/Mamallapuram on the Coro-
mandal coast 50 km south of Madras.
h e world famous site of Ellora in Western India includes rock temples of all
periods cut into the clif s from Early Buddhist times onward until this activity
lapsed at the end of the 1st Millennium AD. h e standard form of monument is
of the speos type with a colonnaded façade, yet unlike the generality of this type of
monument in Ancient Egypt, the interior is also carved out in a detailed reproduc-
tion of a built temple. However a few temples surpass this scheme. Here a sizeable
area has been cut out of the clif from above to fashion an entirely free standing
temple, the sovereign example being the Kailasa (or Shiva's Paradise).
h is is an astounding piece of Baroque virtuosity, and a world wonder. Fashioned
during the 8th century AD, it draws on all the resources of a 1000 year long tradi-
tion, and extends over an area of half a hectare so as to embody an entire temple
precinct. Since it is only recently that this type of rock cutting has been clarii ed in
the West, it is of interest to remark that the process was previously well understood
by investigation in India as demonstrated by the following remarks.
“h e i rst stage of the work (at Kailasa) was simple. It consisted in excavating
out of the hillside three huge trenches at right angles, cut down vertically to the
base of the hill, thus forming a rectangle 300 feet by 175 feet. h is operation. . . .
let standing in the middle a large isolated mass, an “island” of rock over 200
feet long and 100 feet wide and 100 feet high at the apex. Beginning at the top,
the process of rough hewing the irregular mass into shape was next undertaken,
but those employed on this. . . . were immediately followed by the sculptors, for
each portion of the carved detail appears to have been completely i nished as the
work proceeded downwards, thus avoiding any need for scaf olding . . . the Kailasa
is more closely allied to sculpture on a grand scale than to architecture . . . being
obtained by the process of cutting down as distinct from building up. . . . Authori-
ties have shown that this method of production by excavation involves much
less expenditure of labour than by building but on the other hand the general ef ect
is marred by the rock production always appearing in a pit, a disadvantage from
which the Kailasa obviously suf ered ” (P. Brown, “Indian Architecture,” p. 74).
Here are rehearsed all the elements of the procedure for fashioning rock cut
monuments. Only it may be questioned whether the initial separating trenches
were necessarily carried down to rock bottom before the detailed work of carving
out the rock architectural elements began.
Something further now follows with respect to Percy Brown's i nal observation
on the Kailasa, viz that the aspect of such rock cut temples suf ers from always
appearing in a pit. h is is not the case as is strikingly evidenced by the group of
rock cut monuments at Mahabalipuram to the south of Madras.
h ese early Hindu shrines of the Pallava dynasty (ca mid 7th Century AD)
reveal an exquisite fancy and imagination; and this together with their siting by
Indian
free
standing
rock cut
monu-
ments
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