Architecture of India  
Rock Cut Architecture – 2

The rathas are today half-buried in the sand, silent monuments to the age of kings gone by, their silhouettes and graceful surface sculpture exact, in every detail, to the great temples of the south that would follow. 

Kailash Nath Temple, Ellora

The final example of this type is the Kailash Nath Temple, also at Ellora. This is indeed unique. Instead of carving down into the face of a cliff and creating underground halls which had been the practice, the sculptors/architects set aside all convention and created a full temple, identical in every detail to a structural, 'built-up' example, by carving vertically down into the living rock. When we consider that the plan of the Kailash temple is fully equal in area to the Parthenon at Athens, and that it is one and a half times as high, some idea of the magnitude of the achievement comes through. 

The scheme of the Kailash temple is basically divided into four main parts: the body of the temple itself, the entrance gateway, an intermediate nandi shrine and the cloisters surrounding the courtyard. Much of the imposing character of the main shrine is due to its substantial plinth, which on first examination seems to be a floor by itself. Above and below this, the sub-structure is heavily molded, while the central space is occupied by a frieze of elephants and lions. 

The Kailash temple is not only the single largest work of art executed in India, but as an example of rock-cut architecture it stands unrivalled. One gradually becomes aware of the stupendous labor that it involved (over a hundred years), and finally, the sculpture that adorns it. Standing within its walls, one cannot help but be aware of the spiritual energy that went into its creation - a jewel hewn out of the rock itself.     

–  Ashish Nangia
March 1, 2001

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See Also : Elephanta Caves - Rock Cut Architecture

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