Even the ‘unfinished’ Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temple caves in Ellora have stories to tell
· Scroll
It is likely to come as a surprise to many to hear that the rock-cut site of Ellora, renowned for the grandeur of its richly sculpted monuments dedicated variously to the Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain faiths, carries a considerable degree of “unfinished” work. What exactly do we mean in this context by “finish” or the lack thereof? Finish implies firstly that none of the component parts of a monument are lacking or deficient. A finished monument is thus one which has all of its requisite parts – gateways, halls, porches, shrine, roofs, towers – and which depicts carved imagery appropriate to its dedication to one or other deity. Finish also implies that the various portions of a monument, and all its accompanying decorative and figural carvings, are crafted to a state of refinement so that nothing rough or inadequate remains. Recurring instances of lack of finish in both these senses are evident at Ellora, and they occur across the site and in caves dedicated to all three faiths. There is, for instance, a cave in which rock-cutters have not yet reached the stage of creating uniformly vertical walls or flat horizontal ceilings, but in which sculpted images have already been...
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