PilgrimTrips - India Pilgrimage

The Chalukya and Rashtrakuta

The Chalukyas of Badami from the middle of the sixth century AD and the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta who supplanted them effectively in the middle of the eighth century, together with the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi have left a numbe of cave-temples in the region between the Tapti and the north Pennar rivers, extending from coast to coast. The Chalukyas of Vengi were a collateral line that had independently started ruling the Andhra coast from the commencement of the seventh century under Kubja Vishnuvardhana, the intrepid brother of Pulakesin II, and continued throughout the period. The cave-temples are to be found at Badami, Aihole, Ellora, Bhokardan, Elephanta, Joeshvari,Poona, Arvelam (Goa), Mahur, Advi Somanpalli, Vijayawada, Mogulrajapuram, Undavalli, Sitaramapuram, Penamaga and Bhairavakonda. While the Chalukyas were mostly of Hindu persuasion, though they encouraged the Jain creed, the Rashtrakutas and many of the Western Gangas were votaries of Jainism. As such one could perceive a congruity of purpose, technique and the raw material chosen to stabilise Hinduism and foster Jainism and perpetuate their traditions at the cost of Buddhism which was having till then a greater hold on the rich, lay, agricultural and mercantile sections of the people.

The choice of all these dynasties was the local soft-stone fomations, viz. Sandstone, as in Badami and Aihole and in most other places, laterite, as at Arvelam on the extreme west coast, schist as at Bhairavakonds, and trap on the north-west Deccan and western India around Aurangabad, Poona and Bombay. The Western Gangas alone despite their excavated into the hard local granite as at Melkote (Mysore).

The eastern branch of the Chalukyas, ruling from Vengi, though excavating into soft rocks, followed a different mode and design in their cave-temples, which tok in what was prevalent in eastern Andhra and northern Tamil Nadu, or Tondaimandalam, with pallava affinities, thus inaugurating what was to be a distinct Andhra tradition, as opposed to what the Badami Chalukyas did for Kannada tradition and culture.

The Chalukya-Rashtrakuta domination of the areas to the west resulted in the upper Deccan affiliations becoming quite distinct from what obtained in the lower deccan, thus exhibiting two regional idioms. This was because the northern zone lay nearer the sites of the earlier Buddhist cave art and rock architecture. The skills and traditions that had prevailed for more than eight centuries among the local guilds of craftsmen thus continued in the generations that took up Hindu and Jain rock architecture and cave art. Rock architecture was also sustained longer as a mode in the northrn zone. It developed more vigorously particularly under the Rashtrakutas as could be seen from their enormous output and such large-scale composition as the caves at Elephanta, Dhumarlena and Jogeshvari, not to speak of the monolithic carvings of the Kailasa temple, and the Jain Chota Kailasa and the Jain chamukh in the Indra Sabha complex. But rock architecture soon became a mere second to structural stone constructions in the southern zone of the Chalukyas as would be seen in the sequel. This was due to the fact that with the facility of quarrying the soft sandstone blocks, dressing and carving them more easily with the help of the skills acquired, coupled with the urge to construct stone temples on the models of brick-and-wood originals, the stone workers of the Badami-Aihole-Pattadkal area soon trained themselves into guilds of sthapatis that could build temples better instead of carving them out of rocks. The structural creations of the Rashtrakuta perio are, however, less pretentious, of medium or small dimensions, and less well-finished as compared with their rock-cut monuments.

The lay-out plan of the cave-temples varied from the strucutral temples in the successive rise in floor levels of the axial mandapas and shrines, in the much raised level of the sanctum floor, through the ceiling level throughout remained the same. The development of these non-Buddhist cave-temples can be divided into five or six stages or patterns. In the first group would be those that follow the scheme generalized by the later Buddhists in that area, namely, the uihara-chaitya type, with a cella and a frontal-pillared hall. The second would be those with a triple cella at the rear and lateral dispositions, each with a pillared façade in the form of an ardha-mandapa, the whole fronted by a common large hall, or maha-mandapa, and a narrower agra-or mukha-mandapa, again with a pillared façade. Thirdly, there would be those which show or tend to show the dise shrines in the form of chambers containing panel sculptures and Saptamatrika shrines with a regular or principal sanctum at the rear, which is Sandhara or one provided with circumambulatory passage round it, with ardha-and maha-mandapas often having uedi parapets. A Nandi-mandapa and maha-mandapa often having uedi parapets. Nandi-mandapa is also to be sen inf front in some cases as in the Lankesvara cave at Ellora (Kailasa complex). The fourth type is exemplified by the structures where the principal shrine has no circumambulatory passage, that is, nirandhara: the ardha-mandapa has sculpture panels on its side walls, and the large maha-mandapa is pillared and with or without side shrines. Often there is an additional muka-mandapa. The Saptamatrika shrine, or niche, is cut independently outside the main cave-temple, usually on the left flank, while there is a Nandi-mandapa in front, as in Ellora Cave 22. The fifth group would be that where the dandhara pattern with circumambulation develops a sarvatobhadra sanctum cell, with door-openings on all the four sides, fronted by a series of two or three mandapas, and, in the most advanced type, having an additional agra-mandapa that contains sculpture panels of Ganesa, Durga and other forms on one side and the Saptamatrikas on the other side of the agra-mandapa. Lastly, there are the examples which, like the more southern forms, have in front the transversely oblong halls-the ardha-and mukha-mandapas, without any vedi parapet for the latter, and where the pillars carry the sculptures on their shaft portions instead of on the bracket region as female figures that are usual in other cases.

Thus the main varieties observed in the Chalukyan cave-temples are with individual variations: the nirandhara type where the shrine-cells are devoid of circumambulatory passage as at Badami, the saandhara type with shrine-cells having a circumambulatory passage as at Ellora, Ramesvara, etc., the trikuta type with triple shrine-cells having door-openings on all the four sides as at Elephanta, Ellora and Jogeshvari. The Sandhara and sarvatobhadra forms are the most outstanding. In the sarvatobhadra types, as seen in the Dhumarlena at Ellora, the principal cave at Elephanta, and in the cave at Jogeshvari, the outer mandapa cut out of the rock tends to have at least three open passages on the three sides. While the fourth at the rear forms the one ending in the parent rock.

The heaviness of the Chalukyan pillars as at Badami is apparently reduced by the flutings and carvings; the pillar and corbel shapes are various, but in their development they retin their individuality till the close of the Chalukyan period and do not recur in the Rashtrakuta creations. In the Rashtrakuta pillars the square-sectioned forms prevail and the corbel does not show the characteristic volute on the curved face of corbel arm, but for a weak roll at the upper end. The embellished median band, or patta, common in the Chalukyan corbels, is absent.

The most characteristic feature of the style is the door-frame of the cella with elaborate over-door components. In this respect at least a congruity is maintained among the Chalukyan and Rashtrakuta cave-temples, as also in the structural temples. The sakhas, or components of the over-door, range from three to many, the lintel-piece has a crest ornament-the lalata bimba, and a superstructure, or uttaranga. The basal part of the inner sakhas, and the jamb carry panels with reliefs of the river goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna. In the Chalukyan cave-temples ground level. Cave-temple IV, also small but Jain, cut near the top of the rock, came much later than the other three which belong to the last quarter of the sixth century. These cave-temples consist of a rectangular pillared mukha-mandapa preceding a more or less square-pillared maha-mandapa with a shrine-cell at the rear end. The ardha-mandapa that should intervene between the shrine and the maha-mandapa is not distinct, and is taken up by the rear baya of the maha-mandapa. The façade opening is wide and sufficiently high. The façade pillars are tall and massive, often of a square section, carrying corbels, or potika, supporting the beam. The massive overhanging ledge over the beam forms eaves or cornice, the kapota, with ribbing and cross-pieces imitating a frame-work carved on its curved underside. The beams over the potika, as also the underframe of the kapota, are often strutted, as it were, by bold caryatid-like supports of human, celestial or animal figures sculptured almost in the round. The inter-columniation between the two central pillars is wider than that between the others. The ceilings of the mukha-mandapa or agra-mandapa are sunk intoregular four-sided coffers by thick cross-beams, that are filled with carved medallions in relief. The inner pillars, especially of the inner row of the mukha-mandapa, though square at the base, are of a circular section above, complete with the cushion-shaped bulbous kumbha, to mention only the most prominent ones. The pillared maha-mandapa, as already stated, has a wider nave at the centre than the lateral aisels, and the inner pillars are polygonal in section. A functional division of the mukha-mandapa from the central hall is shown by the introduction of a screen wll stretching to about a fourth of the width from either end between the two mandapas with the front pillars and pilasters of the maha-mandapa fitted in the central gap. The higher floor-level of the central nave would suggest a central clerestory roof, rising above the roofs of the side aisles as could be seen in the structural examples referred to before, though in this rock-cut model the ceiling is of even height right through. Cave I has a monolithic linga-pitha and is slightly later in point of time. Cave II would be slightly later than cave III which has only a monolithic pitha for the original Vishnu image. The recessed kantha of the plinth of the mukha-mandapa façade in Cave III shows paried pilasters inter-posed between the gana groups while in Caves I and II the gana friezes are continuous. There are no Vaishnava on the ceiling in the frond mandapa of Siva Cave I while they are present in the earlier Cave II and III, which are Vaishnava. The Jain cave-temple of a still later date is replete with Jain sculptures and cameos, while the other three are noted for some of their bold wall sculptures, mostly subsequent additions.

In respect of the sculpture panels, even in Cave III of Badami, the earliest of the series, it has been demonstrated (by A. Lippe) on the basis of technical and stylistic evidence that, they, barring the Vaikunthanatha (seated Vishnu) and Varaha murti, are not coevalwith the cave excavation, but additions, made at a slightly later time, about the middle of the seventh century, possibly after the period of Pallva occupation of Badami by Mamalla.

Of the two rock-cut cave-temples at Aihole (Bijapur district) while the one called Ravalagudi is dedicated to Siva, dating about AD 700, the other one of a slightly later dare is a Jain temple. Both are excavated into the low sandstone outcrops, and mark the latest of the early Chalukyan or Western Chalukyan series in their home districts. Thouygh smaller than the Badami cave-temples, these are interesting from the point of view of plan, design and sculpture. The pillars are more slender and have the usual capital components of the ‘order’. The Ravalagudi consists essentially of an almost square mandapa with a large principal cella of almost equal size on the rear, and two more, wide, lateral shrines, thus making a trikuta plan. While the rear shrine has a rock-cut linga, the lateral shrine on its right is dedicated to the Saptamatrikasand attendant deities, and the one on the left to other forms of Siva. The slightly projecting dividing wall-strips between the mandapa and rear shrine, leaving a wide entrance in between, carry the dvarapala sculptures. On the façade on either flank on the rock wall are niches containing the sculptures of the two nidhis-Sankha and Padma. The Jain cave-temple has a front mandapa which is more pronouncedly rectangular, and conforms to the typical mandapa-type cave-temple pattern.

The high trap-ridge at Ellora which had afforded the venue for a series of Buddhist excavations described earlier, now provided a scope for Hindu and Jain works. The Brahmanical cave-temples, occupying the central section of the hill and the parts higher up, belong to the period of the Chalukyas and their Rashtrakuta successors. The Hindu excavations, designated asCaves 13 to 29, are mostly Saivite in character and fall into two distinct chronological series, the earlier series being more after the models of the preceding Buddhist excavations, characterized by the general absence of a rock-cut image or symbol like the linga in their sanctums. There are, of course, variations of plan and content in some. Cave 16 is the Kailasa with cave-temples on the scarp of the circumambulatory passage as in the case of the Lankesvara (16a). The later series are more after the models of the south and often contain an image in their sanctum, a rock-cut linga pedestal with sometimes a rock-ct Nandi also.

The pillars in these caves are of a varied nature and design and are square or octagonal in section, or, generally, of the mumbha-valli type with full vases and excrescent foliage at the middle height, or they have cushion-shaped kumbha mouldings in their capitals. The corbels, where present, are either simple or ornate. The cornice, or kapota, ove the facades and shrine entrance is decorated by horseshoe-shaped kudus which are small nasikas. The door-frames have elaborate over-doors and carry, as the uttaranga on top, miniature representations of the southern uimana-type shrine or the northern sikhara or prasada shrines. The Ramesvara (Cave 21) would represent the earliest of this group. The façade of the rectangular mukha-mandapa has four short, bulky, ornate pillars, and two pilasters at either end rising above highly decorated vedi parapet, or dwarf wall, interrupted in the middle between the two central pillars to provide the entrance doorway. The transverse length of the rectangularportico, or mukha-mandapa, which is carried across the entire front of the excavation has further extensions, one at either end in the form of a side shrine or chamber. Behind the mukha-mandapa is the pillared maha-mandapa, the two central rows of pillars wider apart forming the nave, with the sandhara sanctum at the rear, while the extreme ones, which are closer to the central, round the sanctum. The sanctum entrance is guarded by huge dvarapalas. The pillars have the kumbha mouldings. In the matter of shrine location, even with the modifications effected, it is yet in keeping with the Mahayana Buddhist shrine friezes in the façade dwarf wall and the bracket figures, on the other hand, would take this excavation closer to the Badami group, thereby indicating the first quarter of the seventh century as its date. Caves 20,22,23 and 24, adjacent to this would also belong to about the same period,

The Ravana-ki-kai (Cave 14) is of a simpler plan, with a large pillared mandapa and a sandhara shrine at its rear. The doubling of the front row of columns affords a mukha-mandapa-like verandah in front of the nave leading to the shrine, the aisles continuing as the circumambulatory passage round the shrine. The pillars are of the kumbha-valli type. On either side of the shrine entrance, there are a number of carved images, including the two dvarapalas. On the mandapa walls, and carved in the recesses between the pilasters, are sculptural compositions, Saivite and Vaishnavite. The cella is rectangular and has provision for a platform on its rear with a socket in it for Vishnu or Durga, but not for Siva or a linga. This excavation in the pre-Rashstrakuta series can be dated near AD700. Besides the above, others like Caves 17,20,21 and 26 are of the sandhara type and have their shrine chambers at the rear of the pillared mandapa cut out on all sides, resulting in a circumambulatory passage. Cave 17 should be nearer Ramesvara in point of time, i.e. the second quarter of the seventh century, and Cave 26 should approximate to the Rashtrakuta excavations.

The Dhumarlena, or Cave 29, is of greatest interest since it is the largest and most imposing of the caves at Ellora. Its sandhara and chamukh, or chaturmukha shrine is not only isolated but also contained within a group of mandapas arranged in a cruciform plan which is similar to that of the Elephanta and the Jogesvari caves. The four doorways of the shrine are flanked by lage dvarapalas and other accompanying sculptures. The long rectangular maha-mandapa or main hall that precedes the shrine and also partly surrounds it has a wide nave and aisles formed by a colonnade of five pillars on each side, of which the frone encloses the main entrance. Additionally flanking the main hall are two lateral entrances through two portals or pillared transepts. The pillars are huge in size with kumbhas or cushion capitals, and the statutory inside is also ponderous and of large proportions. The shrine contain a linga on a monolithic pitha. The cave-temple can be dated to the middle of the seventh century in the Chalukyan period.

Cave27, or the Milkmaid’s cave (Gopilena), is an interesting example with triple shrines on the rear and side walls of the mandapa. Cave 25, or the Kumbharvada, has multiple shrine-cells as in Bhokardan and has lateral galleries attached to the ante-chamber. While Cave 27 may be of the transitional period between the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, Cave 25 should be earlier, datable to the second half of the seventh century.

The Dasavatara,or Cave 15, is an odd example is as much as it is the only two-storeyed cave-temple or cave-comples of a very large size. It is apparently a case of reconditioning of whar all was prepared and cut out for Buddhistic requirements. It would mark the earliest example of Rashtrakuta work at Ellora. Its front pavilion carries the inscription of Dantidurga (c, 752-756) and is an accomplishd piece of contemporary rock architecture. The cave-temple will have to be placed in the mid-eighth century. The detached Nandi-mandapa is four-pillared with flights of steps at the front and the rear. The façade of the temple that rises beyond has its two storeys with two rows of pillars, one above the other, the pillars being square and reminiscent of the arrangement in the Tin-tal cave of Ajanta. The groundfloor is a compartment with fourteen square pillars and the upper floor has the plan of a large pillared mandapa with central nave and lateral aisles and a shrine with a linga at the rear. The linga-pitha is circular. The pillars are arranged in six rows of nine each with two additional ones at the far end of the nave forming a vestibule in front of the shrine. The two pillars at the front of the vestibule are elaborately carved while the rest of the pillars are plain, square in section. The pilasters along the walls enclose between them large sunk panels with fine group sculptures. Cave 16 is another example having a circular linga "pitha in its shrine.

The Lankesvara cave at the upper level, to the right of the Kailasa monolith, is again a Rashtrakuta excavation, showing a reversion to the type with a sandhara shrine-cell at the rear of a pillared mandapa. It is compact and has a terminal Nandi pavilion and contains a very rich grouping of sculptures of great iconographic value.

The Ganeslena constitutes over a score of cave-temples forming a group collectively numbered as Cave 21. Each unit consists of a mandapa having simple pillars and pilasters of square section with corbels of the Chalukyan type on the façade, and the shrine chamber at the rear. The rear wall of the shrine has a relief of Mahesamurti. In most cases there is a linga insterted into a monolithic circular pitha on the floor, and in one case there is a rock-cut linga as well. The shrine doorways have over-doora. These may be placed just about AD 750, in the early years of the Rashtrakuta rule in Ellora. The Mahesmurti reliefs here are quite different in treatment and finish from the celebrated one at Elephanta and, unlike Elephanta, they are place on the wall behind the Rashtrakuta linga in the main shrine.

The Jain excavations (Cave 30 to 34) mark the last phase of activity in Ellora commencing from about AD 800 and continuing into the next century. They follow mostly the earlier Hindu examples in plan and desigh, differing only in their sculpture and iconography. The Indra Sabha (Cave 32) and the Jagannath Sabha (Cave 33) standing has in its open forecourt the chaumukh Jain monolithic temple. The rock faces on the sides of the open front quadrangle are profusely sculptured and have elaborately carved kapota entablatures, one separating the lower from the upper storey with a lion and elephant series in the frieze, and the other, on top of the upper storey, with a series of shrines depicting tirthankara forms. The lower storey of the cave is an unfinished hall,mostly with simple pillars, some of them moulded. There are attempts to cut cells into the walls. The upper storey is again a navaranga-mandapa with twelve pillars, the central bay having a raised platform for a Jain chaumukh with the ceiling showing an elaborate lotus carving. The hall has a pillared portico, and there are two side shines projecting on either side of the front.

The jagannath Sabha, though of the same type, lacks the regularity of the plan. The groundfloor is a complex of three asymmetrically disposed sanctuaries, each a complete unit, consisting of agra-and maha-mandapas. The rear shrines open into the courtyed which has crumbled away. The upper floor has the navaranga hall with twelve outer pillars as in the Indra Sabha, but there is also a shrine at the rear. From one corner of the mandapa and disposed at an angle is an additional unit similar in proportions and character to those of the groundfloor, but complete and richly carved.

In Elephanta, a tiny island off Bombay, the cave-temple is distinguished by the exceptional quality of it sculptures of which the great Mahesmurti is the most well known. With the main east-west linear axis of the excavation parallel to the length of the rock, its plan consists of a large mandapa supported by twenty pillars on its periphery, eight ranged on each of the longer sides and two each on the front and the rear, between the corner pillars. There are flights of steps in front of the shorter or front and rear sides, leading out into open courts on the respective sides, which are formed by cuttings that more or less isolate the section of the rock with itsexcavated cave-temple from the rest of the mass. In the eastern court on its floor is a circular rock-cut pedestal, perhaps for Nandi. The northern side of the main maha-mandapa has two pillars and pilasters on its facades; the mukha-mandapa is longer than the former by the addition of one more bay at either end. These two are are designed as the northern lateral exyensions of the maha-mandapa with an entrance on the open side, while the corresponding lateral extension of the same plan on the south, dug into the parent rock, contains the niches of Mahesmurti and other sculptures. Towards the rear end of the maha-mandapa is a sandhara, chaturmukha shrine, square, and with doors framed by elaborate over-doors on the four sides. Inside there is a large rock-cut linga pedestal, withits spout on the north, and with an inserted linga. In front of the shrine there is an inner pradakshina-mandapa between two rows of four pillars each, forming part of the circumambulatory passage round the shrine. A cutting into the rock on the east, beyond the northern portico, leads to the eastern forecourt and the main entrance to the temple for Durga is excavated into the scarp. A similar cutting at the western end beyond into the scarp. A similar cutting at the western end beyond the northern portico leads into thecourt behind the main temple into the western scarp. Into this a smaller Siva cave-temple is cut, consisting of a square shrine with a mandapa in front. This cave-temple may have to be placed in the middle of the second quarter of the seventh century, while Ellora Cave 29 (Dhumarlena), which is to a large extent its copy, should be placed in the beginning of the last quarter of the same century.

The Jogeshvari cave-temple in Salsette, near Bombay, which is excavated into an almost underground low trap outcrop, is larger in area than the thre sides all round a marked area into the rock outcrop isolated a large rectangular mass on which the scarps for the excavation were prepared. At the eastern and longer end a large gateway or mahadvara is carved with a central passage and flanking mandapas on either side, one of them enshrining Ganesa. The mahadvara leads into an open court and the eastern façade, which is an agra-mandapa with a higher floor-level. The main part of the temple beyond consist of a square chaturmukha shrine surrounded by a pillared cloister with six pillars ion each side, counting the corner ones too. This is surrounded again by an outer astylar cloister, or mandapa, with alower floor-level enclosed by the rock walls on all sides except for an entrance each on the east and the west, and for the three on the south. The shrinehere occupies a central position and its door-ways are framed by elaborate over-doors. On the western side there is another agra-mandapa, similar to the one on the east, which leads out and up through a narrow tunnel to the road beyond. On the southern side, the main mandapa leads through its three openings, with a fine over-door frame round the central one flanked by two intermediate windows, to an extension on this side, which is in the form of an outer open mandapa with a row of ten pillars and two pilasters on its southern façade. Outside this is a narrow open court. The rock wall beyond has incomplete or abandoned excavations of a smaller size, of which the one at the eetreme end is dedicated to Siva. This has interesting pillars with caryatids on its façade. The original dedication of the main sanctum was to Siva, though the temple now enshrines a modern idol of a goodess.

The Patalesvara (for Panchalesvar) cave on Jangli Maharaj Road in Poona, cut into a low trap rock, is unique in that it has a triple-shrine with common pradakshina round it, a circular front pavilion for Nandi, and a side shrine for Durga. The three shrine-cells were perhaps dedicated to the Hindu trinity, the central one to Siva and the lateral ones to Brahma and Vishnu. All these features would point to the second half of the eighth century as its date in the Rashtrakuta times. The Hindu cave at mahur (Nander district) in Maharashtra has a sandhara-type of sanctum with to smaller transverse corridors in front and two smaller subsidiary shrines on the flanks. This is apparently a late plan after the model of Caves 17 and 21 of Ellora, and datable to the first quarter of the eighth century. It was perhaps a provincial contemporary of Dhumarlena of Ellora. There is an unfinished excavation by the side of the Siva cave.

The cave at Bhokardan near Aurangabad has five shrine-cells in a line behind the pillared rectangular mandapa at the rear of an open cutting in a low outcropping trap rock on the left bank of the Kelna river-bed. Each cell has a door-opening. The mandapa has two bays, at the front and the rear, forming mukha-and-ardha-mandapas. The side walls of the mandapa are scooped into shallow curves with larges figure sculptures. The dvarapalas are large-sized, and there are sculptures of Anantasayin, Surya, Balarama, Mahishamardini, etc. It is not clear if this cave is of Western or Eastern Chalukyan authorship; it could even have been of mixed tradition. The nature of the sculpture and other evidence indicate an Eastern Chalukyan authorship in the mid-seventh century AD.

The group of two adjacent cave-temples at Arvelam in Goa is a rare instance of excavation into the local laterite of the west coast overlooking a stream. Both are of simple features. One of them, the southern cave-temple, is a triple-celled unit containing in each unit a linga mounted on a rock-cut pitha. The linga forms in their symbolic aspect differ from one another and represent three different deities. The central linga is the normal Chalukyan type sivalinga; the one in the southern cella is a linga shaft surmounted by a solar disc representing Surya or the sun-god, with an inscription below the disc specifically mentioning it as a Surya form. The linga shaft in the northern cell is represents Kumara or Kartikeya. It is an interesting instance of Vishnu of the triniy being replaced by Surya according to the Surya-Narayana concept, and Brahma by Brahmanya or Kartikeya, as in the trimurti cave-temple at Mahabalipuram.

The most outstanding feature of the rock-cut cave art has been, from the Buddhist times, the dominance of sculpture over architecture. This was facilitated largely by the softness of the stone material and the urge to exploit spaces, as on the pillars, on the walls between pilasters, and even on the ceiling, The same tendency resulted in large-scale paintings, as at Ajanta, Ellora and Badami.

The different goe-forms sculptured are depicted often in the narrative or synoptic panels. They vary in size from very large-sized individual figures, as the dvarapalas, Mahesamurti, etc.to almost the size of cameos. In the earlier Western Chalukyan caves as at Badami, Vishmu and Siva sculptures occur indiscriminately, while in the later ones they are well-nigh separated. The former type of caves show among the female deities only Durga, while the latter have the Saptamatrikas, Sarasvati, Gajalakshmi and Parvati. The latter category is also to be found in the Rashtrakuta carvings, though to a lesser extent. While the Western Chalukyan sculpture is noted clarity in form, pose and expression, the Rashtrakuta phase is characterized by crowded ornamentation with less emphasis on pose and expression and, what is more, a tendency to depict Puranic episodes, either in a sunoptic or narrative form. The profusion of such didactic depictions compensates richly for the diminution of the aesthetic trends of the earlier phase. In the Saiva temples at least, tendencies of cult domination and the prescriptions o Agama are noticed. While the Western Chalukyan linga-pithas are mostly square, the Rashtrakuta linga-pithas, as in Ellora Caves 15 and 16, and the Ganeshlena caves are circular. They are monolithic and form part of the live rock of the excavation. These contrast with the absence of lings-pihtas in the Pallava cave-temples where the advent of lingas of the prismatic dharalinga type inserted into sockets in the floor, or of even uniform circular section over the square lower part that goes into the socket, is of a later date than the cave-temple. The Chalukya-Rashtrakuta lingas are of a different type. It is only in the monolithic lings-pitha and linga of the Pandyan temples that we find square, circular, and even octagonal linga-pithas.

While the linga-symbolizing Siva in his aniconic aspect with the characteristic linga-pitha, called avudaiyar, is absent as organically roci-cut with the cave itself in the earlier stages of the Pallava cave-temples, they appear as integral rock-cut forms of the Pandya-Muttaraiyar series, coinciding chronologically with the later Pallava structural phas. But in the north of the Tamil country, in the Chalukya-Rashtrakuta cave-temples, the presence of rock-cut linga-pitha, though not always along with the linga on it, would suggest a continuity with the earlier prevailing trends in that area. For after the unique example of the urdhvalinga (phallic) form in Gudimallam (Chittoor district), lingas, many of them of the arsha (or naturally occurring type), inserted into sockets of linga-pithas have been found in the course of excavations of the river-side area in Nagarjunakonda of the Ikshivaku times, followed by the recent finds of lingas in linga-pithas in the salvaged area of the river-valley projects in the Kurnool and mahbubnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh. These linked up with such finds of an earlier period from Karvan (Kayarohana), associated with Lakulisa-the founder of the pasupata creed, would indicate the gradual spread of the linga cult southwards during the centuries, reaching Tamil Nadu in the beginning of the eighth century AD. The iconographic forms noticed in the Badami group include among Vaishnava forms, Varaha, Tirvikrama, Narasimha, Anantasayin, Vaikunthanatha, Vishnu, and Vaishnavite legends and Krishna-lila in friezes. The Siva forms are tandava mutri, Harihara, and Ardhanari. Among the others are Ganesa, Kartikeya, Durga and Mahishamardini. At Aihole (Ravalapudi or Ravalagudi), we have Varaha, Harihara, Ardhanari, Gangadhara, Saptamatrikas, Mahishamardini and the two nidhis.

In the Chalukyan phase at Ellora are to be seen Ganesa, Kartikeya, Sarasvati, Gajalakshmi, Saptamatrikas, Siva-Parvati legends in synoptic forms, Parvati’s penance, Kailasa-tolana, Akshakridamurti, Kalyanasundara, Andhakari, Siva-tandavas, lakulisa, Siva-Lakulisa, Krishna, Balarama, Subhadra, Surya, Anantasayin and Brahma. The Rashtrakuta phase in the same place is noted for such sculptures as Durga, Mahishamardini, Parvati-tapas, Kalyanasundra, and the Kailasa scene, Ardhanari Siva, Govardhanandhari, Kaliyadamana, Varaha, Narasimha, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Ganesa and Kartikeya. The Ganesalena at Ellora depicts also the Shanmata or six-fold cult of Surya, Vishnu, Siva, Kartikeya, Ganesa and Durga.

The Elephanta sculptures are almost the same as those in Dhumarlena (Ellora), with some additions, such as the Mahesamurti and Sivayogi; Jogeshvari has Kartikeya, Lakshmi, Ganesa, Saptamatrikas, Lakulisa and Kalyanasundra. The Patalesvara at Poona has Gajalakshmi, Tripurantaka, Anantasayin, Lingodbhava and Andhakari. Mahur depicts Ardhanari, Gangadhara, Tripurantaka, Ganesa, Kartikeya and Surya.