Built more than 1200 years ago, the Kailasa temple of India is the largest monolithic structure in the world, located in the ground, has been recognized by UNESCO.
Formed from a single rock, Kailasa Temple is one of the most impressive cave temples in India. This huge structure is located in a complex of 34 temples and monasteries in the cave collectively known as Ellora Cave.
Located in the Western region of Maharashtra, the caves located in the cliffs of Aurangabad have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site with monuments dating back 600 to 1000 years. There is a lot of impressive architecture on the grounds but the megalithic Kailasa temple is perhaps the best known.
Famous for both its size and impressive decoration, no one has specifically identified the Kailasa temple builder. Although there are no written documents, historians and archaeologists believe that King Rachtrakuta Krishna I, who ruled from about 756 to 773 AD, was responsible for creating this masterpiece. This attribution is based on a number of myths.
Medieval legends weave the romantic picture behind the mammoth temple. Krishna Yajnavalki’s Katha-Kalpataru mentions the story of how when a king was seriously ill, the queen prayed to Shiva (the supreme deity, symbolizing regeneration and destruction) for her husband’s health and temple. responded by building a temple to the god Shiva and fasting until the completion of shikhara (top of the temple).
Fulfilling the wish, the king quickly recovered and the queen also kept her promise to build the temple. But they didn’t expect it to take so long to build the shikhara. Fortunately, a smart engineer came and explained that just building from the top of the mountain, shikhara will quickly appear. This relieved the queen and let it proceed. So the temple was built from the top down. Although this is just an unconfirmed story, in fact, Kailasa Temple was built from the top down.
This decision to “build upside down” must mobilize up to 200,000 tons of volcanic rock excavated from the rock, about three stories high, with a horseshoe-shaped courtyard, a tower at the entrance. The temple yard is about 82x46m wide, inside there is a central worshiping area dedicated to the god Shiva.
With the Dravidian architectural style, Kailasa temple has a square spire with meticulously carved details, using chisels, hammers and sharp objects to create embossed patterns.
Huge rock carvings depict various Hindu deities, with particular attention being paid to Shiva. When passing through Gopuram, on the left are depictions of devotees of the god Shiva while on the right are the devotees of Vishnu. There is also a plaque inscribed with the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, which tells of Prince Rama’s struggle to save his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana.
Thanks to these amazing sculptures as well as the incredible engineering of the temple, Kailasa is considered an outstanding example of Indian art and architecture.
Source: taxo.info
