Shrutsagar 2016 04 Volume 02 11

SR No.: 525309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hiren K Doshi
Publisher: Acharya Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir Koba
Publication Year: 2016
Total Pages: 36
Language: Gujarati
Classification: Magazine, India_Shrutsagar, & India
File Size: 5 MB

Page 10

JAINA ART OF ELLORA UNIQUE JAINA HERITAGE
Prof. Maruti Nandan Pd. Tiwari Ellorā in Aurangabad district of Maharashatra has been the crown of Indian Art as well as Jaina Art in Maharashatra. With the advent of the Rashtrakûta power, the activity shifted to Elāpurā or Ellorā, where at the end of Buddhist and Brahmanical caves, a series of five Jaina rock-cut caves (nos. 30-34) including monolithic temple known as the Chotā-Kailāsa (cave 30 on the model of the earlier Brahmanical Kailāsa temple, cave 16. 8th century CE) were carved out. The Jaina caves of Ellorā, belonging to Digambara sect occupy the northern horn of the Ellorā ridge. They are found in various stages of completion and are datable to 9th-10th century CE. These caves are remarkable for the Jaina images of Tirthańkaras or Jinas (mainly Pārsvanātha-25 figures and Mahāvīra), Bāhubali (about 20 figures) and Yaksas and Yaksīs (mainly Kubera or Sarvāṇha or
vānubhûti and Ambikā). Now we shall discuss individual features of the caves and sculptural renderings thereof. The beautiful paintings and the rock-cut images reveal hugeness with dynamism and Sānta-rasa in one iconic format. The motionless Tirthańkaras in dhyāna or kāyotsarga-mudrā represent acme of spirituality and peace, while ornate attendant and elegant yakşa-yakṣī figures are vibrant on worldly plane.
The Indra-sabhā (cave 32), the earliest of the group, is a double storeyed south-facing excavation and it is the largest and the most important piece of rock-architecture forming a group rather than a single cave-temple. In front of the main two-storeyed cave is a courtyard containing a monolithic vimāna with an elephant to its east in front and a mānastambha of kumbha-mandit-kalaśa type on the west showing figures of
1. Emeritus professor, Deptt. of History of Art Banaras Hindu University Varanasi 2. Ratan Parimoo and others (Editors), Ellora Caves : Sculpture and Architecture (Seminar Proceedings), New Delhi, 1988, pp. 230-54; Maruti Nandan Pd. Tiwari and Shanti Swaroop Sinha, Jaina Art and Aesthetics, New Delhi, 2011 - Relevant chapters. 3. K.R.Srinivasan, The Deccan - Rock cut Temple-chappter 18, Jaina Art and Architecture (Ed. A. Ghosh), Vol. I, Bhartiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 1974, pp. 188-95