ELEPHANTA CAVES PART 15 - FINAL - ICONOGRAPHY OF ELEPHANTA CAVES - GHARAPURI

GHARAPURI - ELEPHANTA CAVES 15 - FINAL

ICONOGRAPHY OF ELEPHANTA CAVES

MAHESHAMURTHY  NOT TRIMURTHY

The Gharapuri or Elephanta Caves must have been built between the 5th and 6th century C.E., the five Hindu and two Buddhist caves collectively known as the Elephanta Caves have survived through centuries of habitation, invasion and neglect. The island and its resident caves received the name ‘Elefanta Ishle’ from Portuguese invaders after the discovery of a black stone sculpture of an elephant on the island, now housed outside Mumbai’s Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum.

VAMADEVA

The excavations of cave temples in this region are divided into three classes according to the sects to which they belong, namely Buddhist, Brahmanical Hindu, and Jains. The earliest known architecture are the Buddhist around 3^rd century BC, Brahmanical caves whether connected to Shiva or Vishnu came next around the 4^th century to 8^th century Current Era and can be termed the Medieval Architecture. The Caves in Elephanta come into this category of monuments dedicated to Hindu Brahmanical Shaivism and can reasonably be assumed to have been in existence in the 6^th century CE. With the decline of the Gupta’s, the plastic art form also deteriorated and gave way to Rock Art.

 

The sculptures of Elephanta are Exclusively Brahminical in origin and provide us with beautiful specimens of the early medieval Hindu Art.  The Buddhist sculptures however indicate the flourishing of the Mahayana sect with the Buddha’s and Bodhisattva’s, with its deities and demons, spacious temples, huge images, pompous ceremonies and religious rituals, the representation of Amitabha., the celestial Buddha who resides in Sukhavathi the world of highest happiness.

GANESHA

The island in itself was called PURI and SRIPURI and could have been the capital of the KONKAN MAURYA’s. The term GHARA in prakrit would have meant fort or fortress wall and PURI or SRIPURI would be the honorific for town, meaning fortified town.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bxmGV2bwnXqBAs5B9

Part 1 :  https://wp.me/pbR9u5-6n

Part 2 :   https://wp.me/pbR9u5-6h 

Part 3 :    https://wp.me/pbR9u5-22

Part 4 :    https://wp.me/pbR9u5-2e

Part 5 :   https://wp.me/pbR9u5-1U

Part 6 :   https://wp.me/pbR9u5-2Z

Part 7 :   https://wp.me/pbR9u5-3j

Part 8 :  https://wp.me/pbR9u5-3A

Part 9 :   https://wp.me/pbR9u5-3V

Part 10 :   https://wp.me/pbR9u5-4d

Part 11 : https://wp.me/pbR9u5-4o

Part 12 : https://wp.me/pbR9u5-4S

Part 13 : https://wp.me/pbR9u5-58

Part 14 :  https://wp.me/pbR9u5-5k

Part 15 Conclusion : https://wp.me/pbR9u5-5S