Kailash Temple is 1,200 years old and carved from just one rock
We depend on modern technology in various aspects of life in our world today, and it is difficult for us to imagine how our ancestors built a temple with such ingenuity on just one rock using primitive carving tools.
“Kailasa Temple or Kailash Temple” is one of the archaeological wonders of the world. It is located in a mountainous region known as Ellora in India. Some people confuse it with the pillared city of Iram, which was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an.
Mount Kailash: Tibetan pyramid
Mount Kailash is the most famous mountain peak that forms part of the Himalayas in Tibet Autonomous Region, China, which is located in close proximity to part of the longest waterways in the Asian continent including the Indus River and the Sutlej River.
Kailash Temple is a 1,200-year-old Hindu temple. It is one of the 34 temples and monasteries known as the Ellora Caves. It is located in the mountainous Ellora region, 29 km from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The temple is 1,200 years old and was carved from a rock. one only!
Kailash Kailasa Temple
In fact, the Ellora region includes 34 archaeological sites extending over a distance of about 2 kilometers, known as the Ellora Caves, and one of the most important of them is the Kailasa Temple, which was built in the eighth century AD. This temple is also a distinctive tourist destination for tourists from all over the world.
This temple is almost the only one in the world of this magnitude that was not built, but rather dug holes in an entire mountain, and archaeologists are confused about how to dig and remove thousands of tons of rocks to reveal the stone structures and sculptures, and about the time taken, which is not estimated in decades, but in centuries of manual work without the machines that We know it today.
The temple shows the distinctive features of Dravidian architecture in the eighth century, with very precise proportional dimensions, showing the complex workmanship of this type of architecture and sculpture, despite the temple being built using primitive methods of sculpture and the use of elephants to transport heavy stones.
The temple belongs to the Hindu god Shiva. He decided to build the temple during the reign of Krishna I - the king of the Rashtrakuta tribe, which ruled most parts of the Indian subcontinent from the sixth to the tenth century AD. It is also called the Kailash Temple, and that name goes back to Kailashnath, which means the King of the Kailash.
The timing of the carving of the temple overlooking Mount Kailash was estimated between the years 783 and 757 AD, which is the same place where Shiva and the rest of the Hindus resided. Carving the temple consumed about 400,000 tons of rock and it took twenty years to complete the carving of this integrated building.
Looking at the traces of carving on the walls of the temple, architectural scholars concluded that three types of chisels (a carving machine) were used, and that it was carved vertically from top to bottom due to the difficulty of carving the temple horizontally. You, dear reader, can see a diagram of the interior of the temple in this image:
A diagram of the Kailash Temple from the inside
The multi-storey sculpture is clearly visible in the temple, especially in the two multi-storey gates leading to the temple courtyard, which resemble the letter U. The shape of the temple courtyard is defined by several stacked columns three stories tall. These columns contain the sculpture of a group of panels highlighting the various Indian deities. The height of the temple structure is seven meters, divided into two floors. .
On the wall of the Holy of Holies of the temple appears an image of the bull Nandi, which is common in temples belonging to the god Shiva. As for the base of the temple, many elephants are carved, which suggests to onlookers that the entire temple is carried on the backs of those elephants.
The interior of the temple contains columns, windows, internal and external rooms, and assembly halls. There is also a large lingam stone - a stone famous for Hinduism. In the Holy of Holies, many Hindu deities and paintings expressing human sexual nature are engraved in the Holy of Holies.
Kailash Temple is carved from a single rock
It is believed that the images of the gods carved to the left of the entrance to the temple belong to King Shiva, and the gods carved to the right of the entrance are believed to be the gods belonging to King Vishnu - also Hindu gods. The temple also contains two columns containing flag poles - Dwagastambam - in the courtyard of the temple. There are also many Statues depicting epic scenes of King Shiva.
Source : websites