Ellora Cave No. 10 — Attraction in Maharashtra

Ellora Cave 10 (Top Pick)

Popularly known as “Viswakarma” (the celestial architect) and also as Sutar-ka-jhopra (Carpenter’s hut), this is the only chaitya (chapel) cave in the group. The local carpenters visit the cave frequently and worship Buddha as Viswakarma, the patron of their craft.

The cave is entered through a gate, cut into the natural rock, into a courtyard open to the sky, with cells to the right and left arranged in two storeys. The cells around the courtyard have square-based pillars at the foot of which was a lion facing outwards. The monastery was on the ground floor, and above are what are presumed to have been the monks’ living quarters.

Through the courtyard, one reaches the elaborately carved chapel of Lord Buddha, a typical chaityagriha. The exterior decoration gives the impression that instead of stone, wood was the building material, hence ‘Viswakarma’. The façade has a trefoil window with apsara groups for ornamentation. The main hall is large (26 m by 13 m, 10 m high). The curved fluted ‘beams’ suggest to some the upturned hull of a ship. The chamber has 28 octagonal pillars, each with a vase and foliage capital, dividing it up into a nave and side aisles. The aisle runs round the decorated stupa (dagoba) with a colossal 4.5-m ‘Preaching Buddha’ carved in front of it.

The visitor is filled with awe at the sight of Lord Buddha seated in dharmacakra pravartanamudra, nearly 11 feet in height, visible by the natural light entering through the entrance door and chaitya window in the balcony. Here, the Buddha image is placed on the front part of a large stupa, nearly 27 feet in height.

The roof is a huge arch with imitations of wooden ribs neatly reproduced in stone. The flat portion in between the pillars and the bottom of the stone ribs, known as triforium, is decorated with a series of seated Buddha images flanked by attendant figures.

The huge chaitya arch in front of the chaityagriha has attained the form of a trefoil decoration, unlike the huge pointed horse-shoe arch of earlier chaityas. The arch has three portions, the central one decorated with an attic window at its centre, which also lightens the interior of the cave. Below the other two portions are sunken niches with an image of Avalokiteshwara on the south side and Manjushri on the north side. The niches represent miniature temple shrines and adorned with extremely beautiful decorations imitating a sikhara of contemporary times. The chaitya arch and the balcony decorations are complete with precision and also imitation of wooden architecture. Even the wooden pins at the joints of beams and lintels are...

Notable among the Buddhist caves is Cave 10, a chaitya worship hall called the 'Vishvakarma cave' (literally the cave of one who accomplishes everything, or the architect of the gods), built around 650 CE.It is also known as the "Carpenter's Cave", because the rock has been given a finish that has the appearance of wooden beams. Beyond its multi-storeyed entry is a cathedral-like stupa hall also known as chaitya-griha (prayer house). At the heart of this cave is a 15-foot statue of Buddha seated in a preaching pose.

A part of the Carpenter's cave (Buddhist Cave 10) Cave 10 combines a vihara with a chapel-like worship hall that has eight subsidiary cells, four in the back wall and four in the right, as well as a portico in the front.It is the only dedicated chaitya griha amongst the Buddhist caves and is constructed along similar lines to Caves 19 and 26 of Ajanta. Cave 10 also features a gavaksha, or chandrashala, arched window and a side connection to Cave 9 of Ellora.

The main hall of the Visvakarma cave is apsidal in plan and is divided into a central nave and side aisles by 28 octagonal columns with plain bracket capitals. In the apsidal end of the chaitya hall is a stupa on the face of which a colossal high seated Buddha in vyakhyana mudra (teaching posture). A large Bodhi tree is carved at his back. The hall has a vaulted roof in which ribs (known as triforium) have been carved in the rock imitating the wooden ones.The friezes above the pillars are Naga queens, and the extensive relief artwork shows characters such as entertainers, dancers and musicians.

The front of the prayer hall is a rock-cut court entered via a flight of steps. The entrance of the Cave has a carved facade decorated with numerous Indian motifs including apsaras and meditating monks.On either side of the upper level are pillared porticos with small rooms in their back walls. The pillared verandah of the chaitya has a small shrine at either end and a single cell in the far end of the back wall. The corridor columns have massive squared shafts and ghata-pallava (vase and foliage) capitals. The various levels of Cave 10 also feature idols of male and female deities, such as Maitreya, Tara, Avalokitesvara (Vajradhamma), Manjusri, Bhrkuti and Mahamayuri, carved in the Pala dynasty style found in eastern regions of India.Some southern Indian influences can also be found in various works...

The Viswakarma cave is also known locally as the Sutar ki jhopdi owing to the construction style. It is still a splendid work with a large open court in front surrounded by a corridor. Its pillars is carved with various representations.

The inner temple, consisting of central naïve and side aisles, measures 85 feet in length, 43 feet width and 34 feet height. The naïve is separated by the aisles by 28 octagonal pillars, 14 feet in height, with plain bracket capitals, while two more square ones just inside the entrance support the gallery above and cut off from the front aisle.

The back of the naïve stands a huge stupa nearly 27 feet in height and 16 feet in diameter. It has simple circular base, hemispherical dome and a square capital. It has a large front piece nearly 17 feet in height attached to it, on which is a 11 feet colossal Buddha seated with his feet down, while on the arch over his head is carved the Bodhi Tree, with dwarfs on either side, typical to a Mahayana construction.

The arched roof is carved in imitation of wooden ribs, each rising from behind a little Naga bust.

The deep frieze above the pillars is divided into two belts, the lower and narrower carved with crowds of fat little ganas in all sitting positions. Needless to say that worshippers used to chant hymns and prayers in chaitya halls and the arched structure echoes nicely. It is said that if we visit this cave early in the morning, any loud voice will echo 3-4 times spanning around a minute.

At the ends of the front corridor are two cells and two chapels with the usual Buddha figures. From the left end of the back corridor a stair ascends to the gallery above, which contains an outer one above the corridor and an inner one over the front aisle, separated by the two pillars that divide the lower portion of the great window into three lights. From the outer area, too, small chapels are entered, each containing sculpture of Buddha mythology, and where the very elaborate head-dresses of the females of the period may be studied. Over the chapel to the right of the window is a remarkable group of little fat figures, and the projecting frieze that crowns the façade is elaborately sculpted with pairs of figures in compartments. High up on each side are two small chapels,...