lectures in indian culture l

today i was shown around the beautiful ellora caves by an excelent guide whose name was amod. he started by ellucidating me on the fact that despite being known as caves, this ellaborate set of monuments should be known as rock architecture. in ellora there were no caves to begin with and unlike other examples of rock architecture the rock was carved vertically from top to bottom.



we visited several temples and monasteries. the earlier ones are budhist but there are also jain and hindu temples. as we went along, amod talked me through the fundaments of each religion and showed me how they were represented in the different buildings. we sat in the cool inside of the monuments, strolled from one to the other, had lunch and talked, taked, talked. it was a very insightfull contact with indian culture and a great introduction to my journey.

pictured, is a detail of the kailash temple, a hindu temple honouring shiva. it is probably the most impressive of the lot due to its scale but also because it is carved out of one single rock. it took over 100 years to be built which means that several people must have been in charge of the plan at different times even though you can't tell by looking at it.

all the buildings at this site are considered national monuments - they are listed by unesco - and, thus, cannot be used for its original purposes, ie. religious cult. nevertheless, jain monks have occasonally visited the site as a worship place. these are men who have renounced all earthly possesions in search of full liberation. eventhough there is a law abolishing nudity, they walk naked except for, in some occasions, a surgical mask to prevent them swallowing or breathing in any mosquitoes inadvertedly - they absolutely don't kill any animal. i was told they cause quite a commotion whem they visit the caves, especially if japanese tourist are in sight.