Kailasa Temple. 8th cent.
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Grousset, Rene
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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Abstract
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This monument to Siva was a dedication of Krishna I (757-83) of the Rashtrakuta Dyn[asty] who were the successors of the Chalukyas in central India and were at the height of their power in the 8th cent. This great sanctuary, occupying an area roughly the same as that of the Parthenon and one and a half times as high, is not a structural temple, but an enormous monolithic rock-carving in architectural form. The technical method was to cut three great trenches down into the quarry of rock and carve free-standing buildings from the isolated block of stone remaining. Masses of rock had to be left intact, not only for the main sanctuary and its basement storey, but also for the two free-standing stambas or columns and the lifesize carving of an elephant on the floor of the surrounding courtyard. Bridges connect the main temple with the halls and subsidiary shrines cut int[o] the surrounding 'walls' of the [q]uarry. To avoid as much shadow as possible, the shrine is on [a] high base. (Grousset, L'Inde, pl. 101) (Rowland, pp. 183-4)
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Archives Series
Basham Collection
Date created
1949
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This item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
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