The Ellora Caves

The Ellora caves are situated under the village of Rojah, in Hindoostan.

They are important in that they establish a Hindoo chronology.

No dates are contained in any Hindoo literature, and the first clew to the chronology of the Hindoos was obtained from these caves.

The ancient town of Ellora is celebrated for its rock cut temples. Some are cave-temples; i.e., cut into the interior of the rocks: others are vast buildings hewn out of the solid granite of the hills. The most beautiful of these is the Temple of Kailasa.

The cave-temples at Elephanta are rich in sculpture. Elephanta is an island six miles in circuit, in the harbor of Bombay. It takes its name from a huge figure of an elephant near its principal landing-place. This colossal animal has been cut out of a detached rock, which is apparently of basaltic origin.

On this island are three temples dug out of the living mountain, the roofs being supported by curiously wrought pillars of various forms and magnitudes, the walls being thickly sculptured into all the varieties of Hindoo mythology. These have long since been abandoned by the priests, but are still frequented by persons who go there to pray. These temples are at least a thousand years old, if not older.

The rock-cut sepulchres of Phrygia and Lycia, in Asia Minor, are of two kinds. Either the tomb is chiselled out of a mass of rock in the form of a sarcophagus, or the sepulchre is cut into the rock, and a facade is chiselled exhibiting the appearance of a wooden building.

Some of them resemble a log house turned into stone.

Sometimes the whole face of the mountain is covered with these remarkable structures, tomb rising above tomb. As regards the dates of these monuments, we may expect further information from the decipherment of the inscriptions.

The earliest may date as far back as the seventh century B.C.