Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Ellora Caves

Ellora Caves in India is an archeological site near the ancient Indian village of Ellora. It is most well known for its magnificent caves. Ellora is a World Heritage Site and the “epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture.” There are 34 caves which were excavated and hand-carved out of high basalt cliffs between the 5th century and 10th century. Caves 1-12 are the Buddhist Caves. Caves 13-39 are the Hindu Caves. Caves 30-34 are Jain Caves. The mixture of religious cultures dug out side by side shows that ancient India had a terrific spirit of tolerance. The intricate and exquisite temples, shrines and caves are some of the oldest rock-cut architecture in the world.

Source - WebUrbanist












Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Konark the Sun Temple

A couple days ago, I went to a book shop. I did not really want to buy something, juts to watch. I was surfing the shelves and I noticed a book about the world architecture. I started reading .. omg, the book was so interesting (and so expensive same time :P:P) I have not bought the book and wrote down some names that seemed interesting for me.

One of them is - Konark the Sun Temple. Is is one of the most magnificent temples in India. The sun god Surya is deeply respected in Hindu culture. Konark means kona- corner and ark - sun.



Konark Sub Temple front view:

The fragment from the temple's wall:


The Temple is a huge construction and stands on the chariot with 12 pairs of wheels. It is believed that the wheels represent month or hours. The chariot is cared of 7 pair of horses - represent week days. Each wheel is decorated with lots of ornaments and figures. Bellow you can see the one of the wheels.


Konark the Sun Temple is famous for its erotic sculptures, which can be found primarily on the second level of the porch structure. It will become immediately apparent upon viewing them that the frank nature of their content is combined with an overwhelming tenderness and lyrical movement.


Love making or sex didn't have the meaning, the most important was the "magical juice" what was coming from such relations - the juice of immortality and eternal life.


Once again, I am impressed from spiritual and architectural beauty of India!