History of Kailasanatha Temple

The ancient Indian name for Ellora was Verul Leni. Even now the local people refer to this place as verul. But Ellora was originally known as Elur or Elapura in ancient days since it is located near the Elaganga river, which originates from the near by hills. Between the 6^th and 11^th centuries, armies of planners, architects, sculptors, smiths and artists were engaged in cutting the basalt lava rock, which makes up the hills, into 34 caves.

Kailasanatha or Manikesvara

The Kailasa (Kailasanatha) temple is one of the largest rock-cut ancient Hindu temples, The Kailasa temple (Cave 16) is one of the 34 cave temples and monasteries known collectively as the Ellora Caves. What makes this  ancient structure a staggering architectural marvel is that it is built by carving a mountain, from a single Rock, of the Charanandri hills at a village named Ellora, Maharashtra.

The largest monolithic sculpture in the world carved out of one single rock, it is considered one of the most remarkable cave temples in India because of its size, architecture and sculptural treatment.

Kailasanatha is mentioned as Manakeshvara in medieval literature. The Kailasa temple lacks a detailed inscription, but it is clear that it was commissioned by a Rashtrakuta ruler. Its construction is generally attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (Krishnaraja), based on two epigraphs. The Baroda copper plate issued in 812-13 CE at a place called Siddhamshi in Gujarat by Karka Suvarnavarsha (Rashtrakuta King) mentions Krishnaraja as the patron of Kailasanatha temple (mentions a Shiva temple) at Elapura (Ellora). It states that the king constructed a temple so wondrous that even the gods and the architect were astonished. Based on the inscription most scholars believe that this is a reference to the Kailasa temple at Elora (by Bhandarkar 1927). This copper plate and the Kadamba grant of Govinda Prabhutavarsha, another Rashtrakuta king, attribute the creation of this monolith to Krishnaraja I.

Kailasa temple features the use of multiple distinct architectural and sculptural styles. The temple architecture shows traces of Pallava and Chalukya styles. This, combined with its relatively large size, has led some scholars to believe that its construction spanned the reigns of multiple kings.

It has many resemblances in style and plan with the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal, but is twice the size and sculpted out of the rock instead of being built with blocks.

The Kailasa Temple is notable for its vertical excavation, carvers started at the top of the rock, and excavated downward. The traditional methods were rigidly followed by the master architect which could not have been achieved by excavating from the front.

A medieval Marathi legend(katha-kalpa-taru) appears to refer to the construction of the Kailasa temple. The legend, gives the reason for such a unique architectural approach. The local king suffered from a debilitating disease. His queen prayed to Grishneswar (Shiva) at the local temple to cure her husband. She vowed to construct a temple if her wish was granted and promised to fast until she could see the Shikhara (top point) of the temple. The king was cured and she requested him to start the building immediately but all the architects declared that it would take months and even years to build a temple complete with the Shikhara. Obviously the queen would die of starvation before she saw it. Only one architect called Kokasa assured the king that the queen would be able to see the Shikhara of the temple in a week’s time. Hence He first cut a finial on top of the hill. the queen on seeing it, believed that the entire temple had been completed and broke her fast. that’s how the top to bottom excavation of the kailasa temple complex began. The temple was named Manikeshwara after the queen. M. K. Dhavalikar (1982) theorizes that Kokasa was indeed the chief architect of the Kailasa temple, which may have been originally known as Manikeshwara. Some 11th-13th century inscriptions from central India mention architects born in the illustrious family of Kokasa.

M. K. Dhavalikar analyzed the architecture of the temple, and pointed out that no major part of the monolithic temple appears to have been an afterthought, architectural evidence suggests that the entire temple was planned at the beginning. The main shrine is a very similar in style to the Virupaksha Temple at Pattadakal, which itself is a replica of the Kailasa temple at Kanchi. The Pattadakal Virupaksha Temple was commissioned by the Chalukyas of Badami to commemorate their victory over the Pallavas, who had constructed the Kailasa temple at Kanchi. According to the Virupaksha temple inscriptions, the Chalukyas brought the Pallava artists to Pattadakal after defeating the Pallavas. Dhavalikar theorizes that after defeating the Chalukyas, Krishna must have been impressed by the Virupaksha Temple located in their territory. As a result, he brought the sculptors and architects of the Virupaksha Temple (including some Pallava artists) to his own territory, and engaged them in the construction of the Kailasa temple at Ellora. If one assumes that the architects of the Virupaksha temple helped construct the Kailasa temple at Ellora, the construction of a massive temple during the reign of a single monarch does not seem impossible. The architects already had a blueprint and a prototype, which must have significantly reduced the effort involved in constructing a new temple. Moreover, excavating a monolithic temple would have actually involved less effort than transporting large stones to build a new temple of similar size. Assuming that one person can cut around 4 cubic feet of rock every day, Dhavalikar estimated that 250 labourers would have managed to construct the Kailasa temple at Ellora within 5.5 years. The presence of non-Rashtrakuta styles in the temple can be attributed to the involvement of Chalukya and Pallava artists.

Dhavalikar concluded that the major part of the temple was completed during the reign of Krishna I. According to Dhavalikar, the following components were completed by Krishna I. the main shrine, its gateway, the nandi-mandapa, the lower-storey, the elephant-lion frieze, the court elephants and the victory pillars. Dhavalikar admits that the most important sculpture of the temple, which depicts Ravana shaking the Kailasa mountain, appears to have been built after the main edifice. This sculpture is considered as one of the finest pieces of Indian art, and it is possible that the temple came to be known as Kailasa after it. Dhavalikar theorizes that this sculpture was carved around 3 - 4 decades after the completion of the main shrine, on the basis of its similarity to the tandava sculpture in the Lankeshvar cave.

Dhavalikar attributes some other structures in the temple complex to the later rulers. These include the Lankeshvar cave and the shrine of the river goddesses (possibly constructed during the reign of Govinda III). Dhavalikar further theorizes that the excavation of the Dashavatara cave, which began during the reign of Dantidurga, was completed during the reign of Krishna I. This explains the similarities between the sculptures in the two caves.

Adhistana, the yajna mantapa, the annexes knownas lankeshwar and peralanka and 3 galleries on the temple’s three sides might have been the work of succeeding generations. According to Goetz, the 11th century Paramara ruler Bhoja  added a new layer of paintings. Finally, Ahilyabai Holkar commissioned the last layer of paintings in the temple.

History is not clear in whose reign it ended. However, if you look closely, you can see it is still unfinished in some portions.
Also read : Mystery of Kailasanatha temple