The Spell of the Caves – Ajanta Ellora
I am always in search of Inspiration for my work. My designs are heavily influenced by art, architecture, dance, music and nature. Amongst the different classes of architecture what intrigues me most of all are forts and caves. I do admire the palatial splendor of grand palaces and tombs, but the unresolved and unconcluded semblance of theseforts and caves appeal to my appetite for the extreme and stark. They are not just fascinating from an artistic point of view but, any specific cave system where ever it might be in the world, are built with scientific precision that can even challenge modern theories on sound and light. This post is not a speleological document but my admiration and inspiration from the most prominent cave structure in India – The Ajanta and Ellora Caves, located in the Sahyadril Hills in Maharashtra.
My first sighting was of the splendid Ellora caves. An astonishing fact about them is that they are mostly cut out from a single rock piece. So the craftsmen took a top down approach to chisel gigantic rocks into viharas or temples. The rocks being a part of a volcanic landscape, has a layered texture to it. We couldsee the sharp and strong rock face with an underlying reddish brown rock texture. Unlike Ajanta, the Ellora caves were never lost to the world and find mention in multiple travel accounts over the years. There are 34 caves in all, whichare products of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain philosophies stylistically
I find the rock cuts, themes and sculptors very similar to the caves and temples of AnkorWat in Cambodia. And this would be probably because of the dominant Buddhist and Hindu influence of the wandering monks and swamis in Asia. The carvings on the cave reflect the tolerant sentiments of the time towards multiple religion, appreciation of sensuous beauty and their perfect aptitude in replicating the symmetry in nature and of course the fair treatment to humans and animals alike. I was of course fascinated by Cave 16, which is a Hindu cave known as the Kailasa temple, which is heralded as the cynosure of Ellora,The massive sculptures and cursive drawings in the caves are suggestive of an elephant’s grace and ponderous strength. I have borrowed the poise, dignity and grace of the formations in my sarees inspired by the caves of Ellora.
And this would be probably because of the dominant Buddhist and Hindu influence of the wandering monks and swamis in Asia. The carvings on the cave reflect the tolerant sentiments of the time towards multiple religion, appreciation of sensuous beauty and their perfect aptitude in replicating the symmetry in nature and of course the fair treatment to humans and animals alike. I was of course fascinated by Cave 16, which is a Hindu cave known as the Kailasa temple, which is heralded as the cynosure of Ellora,The massive sculptures and cursive drawings in the caves are suggestive of an elephant’s grace and ponderous strength. I have borrowed the poise, dignity and grace of the formations in my sarees inspired by the caves of Ellora.
TheAjantacaves has a whole different feeling to it. From a distance it looks like a necklace of crude rocky architecture.And to lend the location some more austerity is the steep gorge cut by the shimmering waterfalls. My little boy of three and I scrambled an arduous narrow winding path to these caves but to be rewarded. Reward for me was a harsh endurance training for the little one. Stunning aspect of the Ajanta caves is it’s wall painting. The multifarious themes of the painting were ranges from the Jatakas: An account of Budha’s former lives and the story of his incarnation to animals and the famous bull with a hump called Nandi and plenty of flora and fauna. The traditional techniques of wall paintings on these caves were the foundation of modern times mural decoration.The pigments used on the walls were all from natural dyes. They are yellow, blue, red, white, black and green mostly. The colours were extracted from natural minerals like Kaolin,lime, gypsum and more. The blue extracted from LapusLazili gives these wall paintings a third dimension. The spacing of the painting is fantastic and though complete in every aspect, they are artistically spaced out. In my collection inspired by the Ajanta caves, I have tried to adhere to a colour pallet similar to what I saw on the paintings. The intricate paintings do not follow a specific grammar, but free flowing and oozing with prana (life), roopa (beauty), lavanya (grace), bhaba (expressions) pramana (expressions) and sadrishya (similitude).
I am sharing few pictures of the caves from my personal album.
And link to my saree collection inspired by the magnificence of the caves https://labelolee.in/product-tag/ajanta-ellora/
This is by no chance an official write up on the caves. There is plenty of informative literature on the same, if you are interested. Below are a couple of links I found especially useful.
Reference:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/milmv9iwoi765l0/BkE-SwaminathanS-Ajanta-A-Layman’s-Guide-0312.pdf?dl=0
