Construction Wonders of Ancient India: The Kailasa Temple
Pondering the Enigma of Kailasa: Unraveling the Ancient Secrets Behind Carving Away Three Million Cubic Feet of Stone
Call it a marvel of a bygone era, or an enigma wrapped in history, the Kailasa Temple in Ellora, India, is a testament to the labors of legends. Carved from a single mountain more than 2,000 years ago, this fascinating structure stands as a monument to ancient Indian rock-cut architecture.
Towering 30 Meters into the Skies
Found in Maharashtra's heartland, the Kailasa Temple rises imposingly, its 33 meters width and 53 depth leaving many in awe. The temple's positioning ensures it stands perfectly aligned with the four cardinal points.
Rock-Cut Architecture
What sets the Kailasa Temple apart, though, is the method of its construction. Experts believe the builders carved their way from the top to the bottom, carefully chiseling out one of the most breathtaking temples ever constructed upon our planet. The temple was built around 300 BC, and it took over three million cubic feet of stone to create, weighing more than 200,000 tons[1].
Historians argue that the temple was constructed in just 18 years using essential tools, such as hammers, chisels, and other primitive implements[1]. This fact raises questions about the tools and methods used by the builders during that time, as the removal of 5 tons of rock daily would be almost impossible with today's most advanced technology.
A Mysterious Masterpiece
The temple's enigma deepens when we consider the amount of rock that was removed and the exact location of it. Scholars suspect they vastly underestimated the massive scale of the project, leading to the belief that the temple was indeed constructed with the aid of powerful ancient tools or techniques.
Intriguingly, Ellora is not the only ancient site home to vast cave carvings. The area is littered with more than one hundred similar caves, all crafted from basalt cliffs[2]. Only 34 of these caves are currently open to the public, suggesting vast untold stories about India's ancient past.
One such story revolves around the Brahmastra. According to India's ancient sacred texts like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, this powerful weapon could vaporize rocks[3]. Some argue that the Kailasa Temple and other such structures might have been constructed using this mythic tool.
However, the general consensus is that these magnificent structures were built using a vertical excavation technique, starting from the top of the original boulder and making their way downwards[4]. The exact tools used, though, remain a topic of endless fascination and debate.
As we uncover the hidden secrets beneath the ancient facade of the Kailasa Temple and similar structures, we delve into the intricacies of human ingenuity and the mysterious techniques that our ancestors employed to carve their legacies in stone.
References:[1] Encylopædia Britannica, 2021. Kailasa Temple[2] Indian Express, 2019. Revisiting Ellora Caves: A treasure trove of rock-cut temples[3] Adventures in India, 2021. Temples, Caves and Mansions: Brahmastra – The Ancient Weapon[4] Live Science, 2021. A 2,000-Year-Old Temple Was Carved Straight Out of a Mountain[5] NPR, 2018. Why India's Kailasa Temple Is In A League Of Its Own
Technology fails to fully comprehend the methods and tools employed in the construction of the Kailasa Temple, hinting at the possibility of secrets in India's home-and-garden, waiting to be unveiled. The enigmatic pyramids of Ellora are not merely architectural marvels from the past, but also mysteries that stubbornly elude our current understanding of lifestyle and ancient technology.
