ELLORA AND AJANTA
kailash temple (CAVE No. 16):
The Kailash Temple is a wonderful piece of architecture. With fabulous spatial effects and varied carvings. It has been started by the Rashtrakut king Krishna- 1 (756-773). It took 100 years to complete and entailed removal of 2.5 lacs tons of rocks.
I saw quite a few depictions of Ganesha in ellora - the one I remember is a deity, like this statue that was at the entrance of the the kailash temple . This seated Ganpati STATUE is broken at several parts, but i have found the most important part of the sculpture is that it don't have "Mukut".
Two other statues were found on the courtyard and inside the temple respectively.
The rows of life sized elephants, on the side walls of the kailash temple gives an impression that they are literally holding the whole temple on their shoulders.
The most prominent feature of the courtyard are two huge elephants on each side of the temple premises, on left and right sides respectively.
CAVE No. 14 :
The first floor contains carvings of Hindu deities such as Ganesh,shiva , Parvathi, Vishnu , Durga, and various forms of shiva statues. Following ganesh idol is one of the least affected, from all ganesh statues of ellora, with all four hands and trunk intact.
AJANTA
Two huge Elephants were found at ajanta caves.
MODHERA
This beautiful temple was built by king bhimdev-1(1026-1027), and ruined by the Mahmood of Ghazni.
This beautifully carved temple is like the poetry in stone and is dedicated to the sun god.
The temple is located at the left bank of the river PUSHPAWATI. The temple marks the greatest achievement of Solanki pattern.
This temple consists of three Separate elements axially aligned and integrated in a balanced architectural composition.I observed that these three partitions shows the three seasons of Indian continent. i.e. Suryakund, sabha mandap and main temple symbolically shows the monsoon, the winter, and summer respectively.
A large tank(Surya kund/Ram kund) was decorated with numerous beautiful shrines. The Ganesha statue is located in one of the main four shrines i.e. Vishnu,Shiva,ShitlaMata and Ganesh.
The description for the idol of Lord Ganesh is given in the ‘Shri ganapaty atharvashirsham’ as (एकदन्तं चतुर्हस्तं०)’, meaning The deity who has only tooth , four hands , adorns a noose and a goad , holds a broken tooth in one hand and the other hand in a posture bestowing blessings, who is red in complexion, whose ears are like shifting pans, and who is worshipped with red flowers.
The another Ganesha was found near the Toran, on the entrance of the SabhaMandapa. This standing ganesha is carved with several jewelry and other decorations.
Some more elephant carvings on the temple.
The statue of young Bhim from mahabharata holding elephant.
PATAN
The stepwell was constructed by Queen udaymati, wife of king bhimdev -1 ( approx 11th 12th century).
this is the beautiful statue of sitting ganesha ,having long trunk but least decorations and holding axe using two hands.
GALTESHWAR
This temple has been built in Malwa architectural style with certain chalukyan influences (12th century A.D.). The temple consists of the sanctum(Garbhagriha) and mandapa, while the shikhar is damaged. The doorway is beautifully carved which can be reckoned as finest of its time. The carving of ganesha (Damaged on several parts) is found on the doorway, is same as modhera ganesha.
These elephant carvings are found on the outside walls of the temple.
KAYAVAROHAN
The small village and its surrounding areas are of great archeological importance. The ruins of a sacred Shiva Temple is found here. Ancient sculptures and relics belonging to the 2nd century have been excavated from this place.
Later during 11th century CE. to 17th century CE, all the Shiva temples at Karvan were desecrated and razed by the iconoclast Muslim invaders. However, the Shiv-Ling of the destroyed temple still survive and remain at the site. The temple of Lakulish was rebuilt and restored during the late Twentieth century.
The beautiful sculpture of Dancing ganesha (Vinayak) is found on the wall of newly built temple.
