The Rock-cut Temples of India/The Caves of Ellora/Introduction
INTRODUCTION.
ALTHOUGH the caves at Ellora do not possess that unity and completeness which characterises those of Ajunta, their variety, and the exceptional magnificence of some of them, renders them perhaps even more interesting: but it must be confessed they are in consequence far more difficult to understand. It is only, indeed, after having become familiar with all the other forms of Cave architecture, that their history becomes at all intelligible.
It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that such strange theories were announced with regard to their age and uses when they were first made known to Europeans; for, beside their complexity, it also happened that the Ellora Caves were the earliest series of which any trustworthy illustrations were published, and they consequently attracted attention at a time when very few materials existed for forming a judgment regarding their peculiarities. Very correct views of them were published by the Daniels, from drawings made by Wales, in the first years of this century; and the writings of Seely, of Colonel Sykes, and Sir Charles Mallet, have all contributed to make them known; but unfortunately none of these gentlemen were familiar—at the time they wrote—with the other forms of Cave architecture, and they were consequently unable to classify them correctly as to either age or style.
The whole series consists of about thirty excavations. Of these ten were devoted to the religion of Buddha, fourteen were excavated by the followers of the Brahmanical creeds, and six cannot be said to belong to either of these sects; nor can they in strictness be ascribed to the Jains, though their sculpture savours more of the tenets of their religion than those of the other two.
Architecturally the Ellora Caves differ from those of Ajunta in consequence of their being excavated in the sloping sides of a hill, and not in a nearly perpendicular cliff. From this formation of the ground almost all the caves at Ellora have courtyards in front of them. Frequently also, an outer wall of rock with an entrance through it is left standing, so that the caves are not generally seen from the outside at all, and a person might pass along their front without being aware of their existence unless warned of the fact. On the other hand, the advantage architecturally of the fore-court, and the protection it affords not only from violence, but also from atmospheric influences, more than compensate for this defect.
