Oriental Scenery/Part 6

by Thomas Daniell and William Daniell

HINDOO EXCAVATIONS
IN THE MOUNTAIN OF
ELLORA NEAR AURUNGABAD
IN THE DECCAN,
IN TWENTY FOUR VIEWS.
ENGRAVED FROM THE DRAWINGS OF JAMES WALES
BY & UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THOMAS DANIELL.

ORIENTAL SCENERY.

 

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Sixth Series.

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HINDOO EXCAVATIONS IN THE MOUNTAIN OF ELLORA,
NEAR AURUNGABAD IN THE DECCAN, EAST INDIES.

Ellora is an ancient town of the Hindoos, distant from Aurungabad in a north-west direction about eighteen miles, and from Bombay nearly east about two hundred and thirty. The mountain, in which are these extraordinary efforts of human labour, accompanied by a very considerable degree of skill, is about a mile westward of the town of Ellora, of a semicircular form. The antiquity of these excavations, which unquestionably must be very great, is quite out of the reach of inquiry; the use of the greater number of them has evidently been for religious purposes. Many of the statues, basso-relievos, capitals of the pillars, and other decorative parts are executed in a very good style. The rock in which they are wrought is hard red granite; much of the sculpture is by time decayed, and many parts have designedly been mutilated, some of which have been repaired, though very clumsily. Several of the temples have been painted of various colours; and their ceilings, which have had suitable decorations, are now generally become so black with the smoke from fires which of late years have been made in them, that scarcely any design can, but in a few places, be traced. The drawings from which this series of views is engraved were presented to the publisher by Sir Charles Warre Malet, Bart. many years resident at the Durbar, or court of Poonah, who, on the death of Mr. Wales, became possessed of all his drawings. Sir Charles has given a full account of these excavations in the sixth volume of the Asiatic Researches, from which are extracted many parts of these descriptions; but as the plates accompanying it were etched from the sketches of an Indian artist, they will be found to differ in many respects from the drawings of Mr. Wales's collection; to make which as correct as possible, no labour or expense has been spared.

These views were taken in the years 1792 and 1793.

Chapters (not listed in original)

1. Plates 1, 2 and 3The mountain of Ellora
2. Plate 4 Jagannatha Sabha
3. Plate 5 Paraswa Rama Sabha
4. Plate 6 The entrance of Indra Sabha
5. Plate 7 View of Indra Sabha, looking outwards
6. Plate 8 Indra Sabha
7. Plate 9 Doomar Leyna
8. Plate 10 Junwassa
9. Plate 11Rameswara
10. Plate 12The entrance to Kailasa
11. Plate 13S. W. View of Kailasa
12. Plate 14N. E View of Kailasa
13. Plates 15 and 16The upper part of Kailasa
14. Plate 17Das Avatara
15. Plates 18 and 19The ashes of Ravana
16. Plate 20Tintali
17. Plate 21Dotali
18. Plates 22 and 23Viswakarma
19. Plate 24Dehr Warra