cave temles in indiA

Cave Temples of Ancient India
the mountain itself is merely an infinitesimal slice of an unbounded universe, it has always served as symbol for an absolute, unchanging and ineffable, still Reality. While each temple is but an infinitesimal section of the great mountain, its symbolic centre, the sanctum — now identified with the one and only centre, the heart of the individual — is perpetually regenerative, if its functions are properly understood. — Ellora: Concept and Style, Carmel Berkson
A list of the most magnificent wonders which ancient civilizations have produced, including the Egyptian pyramids, the ancient city and temples at Machu Picchu in Peru, and the ancient temples at Angkor in Cambodia, should not omit the rock-cut cave temples of India, especially the large Kailas complex at Ellora. Entirely cut out of the hills, these cave temples are in fact not buildings but masterpieces of sculpture. It is mind-boggling to realize that all that is seen is the original rock still standing, sculptured with precision and great care on the basis of a grand plan.
So far about 1,200 cave temples have been discovered in India, some 1,000 of them located in the western state of Maharastra. Others are located in the northeastern state of Bihar and in Karnataka to the south of Maharastra, with a few scattered throughout other states.* The most famous cave complexes are Ellora, Ajanta, Elephanta, Karli, Bhaja, Bedsa, Nasik, Udayagiri, Bagh, Badami, Cuttack, and Barabar. The temples were sculptured by Jains, Hindus, and Buddhists, and standard textbook opinion about their age is that the earliest were carved around 300 BCE but most in the period of the 4th to the 9th centuries CE. However, according to H. P. Blavatsky some of these complexes date to a much more remote period and were ancient mystery schools built on labyrinths of still other caves which have not been discovered. She asks:
Why, then, could not Ellora, Elephanta, Karli, and Ajanta have been built on subterranean labyrinths and passages, as claimed? Of course we do not allude to the caves which are known to every European, whether de visu or through hearsay, notwithstanding their enormous antiquity, though that is . . . disputed by modern archaeology. But it is a fact, known to the Initiated Brahmins of India and especially to Yogis, that there is not a cave-temple in the country but has its subterranean passages running in every direction, and that those underground caves and endless corridors have in their turn their caves and corridors. — The Secret Doctrine 2:221
*There are and were many other cave temples but some of these have been incorporated into Jain and Hindu temples which are built on top of or around them and have often been restyled.
Today some researchers of India's cave temples frankly admit that almost nothing is known about their origin and builders; others use the doubtful dates provided by most textbooks, often based on little and controversial evidence. The sacred symbolism of the art which the caves feature has often been debased, and therefore we will explore not only the caves themselves but also some of the ancient wisdom behind two key symbols which were used: the linga and the stupa.
Elephanta
Elephanta has been the subject of innumerable reports and studies, however, the caves remain enigmatic. Virtually nothing is known about who was responsible for creating them or when they were excavated . . . — Elephanta, George Michell, p. 9
On a small island near Bombay are six cave temples cut out of the basalt rock which are magnificent masterpieces of Hindu devotional art. The island is known by the locals as Gharapuri (town of purification) but more commonly as Elephanta. The main cave is a great hall about 42 m deep, the overall height of the columns varying from 4.9 to 5.6 m. At the back of the cave the grand sculpture of the famous trimurti, Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, rises 7 m. All the columns and images have been cut out of the rock and therefore the complete hall is a giant mandala in sculpture still attached to the original mountain. In the right side of the cave is a sanctum with four doors, each guarded by two figures. According to the Brahmins "these are portrait-statues of the sculptors themselves, Hindus of the highest caste, portrayed as doorkeepers of the holy of holies."*
*There are and were many other cave temples but some of these have been incorporated into Jain and Hindu temples which are built on top of or around them and have often been restyled.
When were these temples conceived? Although mainstream archeology holds that they were hewn between the 4th and 9th centuries CE, researchers like George Michell admit that we do not know. Nevertheless, even he would probably not consider the caves to be tens if not hundreds of thousands of years old, as Blavatsky contends:
Thanks to the fanaticism of these Portuguese vandals,* the chronology of the Indian cave-temples must remain forever an enigma to the archaeological world, beginning with the Brahmins who assure the tourist that Elephanta is 374,000 years old, and ending with Fergusson, who tries to prove that this temple was carved in the tenth century of our era. Wherever one may turn in their history, there is nothing but hypotheses and darkness. And yet Gharapuri is mentioned in the epic poem Mahabharata, written, according to Colebrooke and Wilson, a considerable time before the reign of Cyrus. In another ancient legend, it is said that the temple of Trimurti was built on Elephanta by the sons of Pandu . . . — From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, p. 5
*Blavatsky probably refers to the fact that in 1540 a stone inscription was discovered over the entrance of the main cave and then shipped to Portugal to be deciphered. It subsequently disappeared and nothing is now known about it. Furthermore, the Portuguese caused significant damage to these caves.
Blavatsky also says that this cave "must be classed among prehistoric monuments, dating from the epoch immediately following the 'great war,' Mahabharata, . . ." (ibid., p. 80). The research and writing of Indian history still suffer from the preconceptions of the first Western "discoverers" of these monuments, and today even local Indian pandits, westernized as some have become, often show no sign of belief in the antiquity of the roots of their forefathers. Why should we not consider the ancient teachings in the sacred books of the Hindus themselves in order to approach the source of their wisdom, which stems from remote times?
Main cave with trimurti in the background, Elephanta, India (photo by the author)
The ancient Hindu teachings refer to the different ages in which mankind lived, and the cycles they use are of enormous length, assigning a great antiquity to humanity. Krita-yuga or the golden age contains 1,728,000 years, followed by treta-yuga with 1,296,000 years, then dvapara-yuga with 864,000 years, and finally kali-yuga with 432,000 years. According to their chronology we have proceeded around 5,100 years into kali-yuga, and therefore the golden age began around 3.8 million years ago. In all these yugas there lived people and royal dynasties, some of which must have left their traces. The great sages, initiators, or god-kings especially are assigned to the oldest yugas. However, "In the modern academies, few have felt the need to search for serious truth in 'the Indian myths.' Consequently, the history of Vedic India continues to reign as the biggest enigma of myth versus fact."*
*Devamrita Swami, Searching for Vedic India, p. 42.
With the discovery of the Indus Valley or Sarasvati civilization in northern India and Pakistan, archeologists are now starting to be convinced that Indian civilization is much older than previously believed. Archeologists assume that these ancient cities are the oldest testimonies of Indian civilization and most are dated to 3000 BCE. One site named Mergarh is even dated between 6500 and 7000 BCE. Hopefully the dates assigned to the various cave temples will in time be reconsidered, and these complexes may perhaps prove even older than the top layer of the Indus Valley civilization that has already been excavated.
The Linga
Shiva is especially featured in these cave temples and so is his symbol, the linga, in combination with the yoni. In the various caves lingas can be found in the holy of holies or secret chamber (guha). The meaning of the sacred linga has been much debased in our time and is primarily explained as a phallus with the yoni as a womb. The original meaning, however, was sacred. The literal meaning of linga is "sign" or "characteristic" and can be explained in several ways. In the first place it symbolizes the germ of a universe which is emanated by the unknown Brahman in and through space (the eternal womb or yoni) to form the universe to come. According to Manu (1:9) this germ became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which the self-existent Brahman, while remaining transcendent in its higher parts, evolved forth into Brahma the Creator, who is therefore regarded as a manifestation of the Self-existent. Thus we have Brahman, its veil or pradhana, and then Brahma. This germ or Brahma is therefore a "sign" or manifestation of Brahman. This trinity was at a later time more often referred to as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Nowadays the linga is mostly called the sign of Shiva. This universal teaching of a sacred trinity was also taught in ancient Greece, represented by the first, second, and third logos ("word" or verbum), which later became Father, Holy Ghost, and Son in the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Hindus also applied the term hiranyagarbha, or radiant seed, to the germ which already contains a whole cosmos in itself and which will develop to form a living universe. Likewise such a seed exists in man, and it is a symbol for our higher self, which can be manifested while on earth. In initiation one had to bring one's higher self to birth by entering one's inner holy of holies — one's own primeval nature of consciousness, or yoni — and conquering oneself. One who had done so was called a dvija or "twice-born," an initiate. The many images of Shiva killing the demon, i.e., man killing his inner demon, illustrate this thought. In Vedic times Shiva was called Rudra or the destroyer of negative elements.
Devdutt Pattanaik explains another aspect of the linga: "It is said Shiva stood on one foot for several hundred thousand years transforming himself into Aja-Ekapada, the one-footed-lord, the axis of the revolving cosmos. This axis has no beginning nor an end; it is considered to be the great linga of Shiva" (Shiva, An Introduction, p. 91). This aspect refers to the secret divine center or cosmic axis, Mount Meru, around which all is revolving, from which all originated, and to which all will eventually return. It is "the omphalos, the navel and centre of the Earth and of Being."* One of the fundamental teachings of Hinduism is that we are all sparks of a divine center. To realize and consciously become this center was and is the main purpose of initiation. The ancient sages did not stop here but knew that any sacred center itself was in its turn revolving around another center, and so on. Space is considered to be infinite with universes periodically manifesting, vanishing, and reappearing. For this reason the Hindus called the great mystery Parabrahman (beyond Brahman) or simply That, which even the gods are unable to penetrate.