51-476: The Kailasha ( IAST : Kailāśa ) or Kailashanatha ( IAST : Kailāśanātha ) temple is the largest of the rock-cut temples at the Ellora Caves near Aurangabad district, Maharashtra of Maharashtra , India. A megalith carved from a cliff face, it is considered one of the most remarkable cave temples in the world because of its size, architecture, and sculptural treatment. It has been called "the climax of
102-433: A font, etc. It can be enabled in the input menu in the menu bar under System Preferences → International → Input Menu (or System Preferences → Language and Text → Input Sources) or can be viewed under Edit → Emoji & Symbols in many programs. Equivalent tools – such as gucharmap ( GNOME ) or kcharselect ( KDE ) – exist on most Linux desktop environments. Users of SCIM on Linux based platforms can also have
153-707: A modifier key to type letters with diacritical marks. For example, alt + a = ā. How this is set up varies by operating system. Linux/Unix and BSD desktop environments allow one to set up custom keyboard layouts and switch them by clicking a flag icon in the menu bar. macOS One can use the pre-installed US International keyboard, or install Toshiya Unebe's Easy Unicode keyboard layout. Microsoft Windows Windows also allows one to change keyboard layouts and set up additional custom keyboard mappings for IAST. This Pali keyboard installer made by Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC) supports IAST (works on Microsoft Windows up to at least version 10, can use Alt button on
204-515: 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. The Kailasa Temple
255-482: A number of relief and free-standing sculptures on a grand scale equal to the architecture, though only traces remain of the paintings which originally decorated it. Kailasa (Kaliash) temple lacks a dedicatory inscription , but there is no doubt that it was commissioned by a Rashtrakuta ruler. Its construction is generally attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (r. 756–773 CE), based on two epigraphs that link
306-502: A porch in front of the central temple. The Nandi mandapa and main Shiva temple are each about 7 metres high, and built on two storeys. The lower storeys of the Nandi mandapa are both solid structures, decorated with elaborate illustrative carvings. The base of the temple has been carved to suggest that elephants are holding the structure aloft. A rock bridge connects the Nandi mandapa to
357-413: A temple complete with a shikhara. One architect named Kokasa assured the king that the queen would be able to see the shikhara of a temple within a week's time. He started building the temple from the top, by carving a rock. He was able to finish the shikhara within a week's time, enabling the queen to give up her fast. The temple was named Manikeshwar after the queen. M. K. Dhavalikar theorises that Kokasa
408-440: A variety of deities. Originally flying bridges of stone connected these galleries to central temple structures, but these have fallen. Some of the most famous sculptures are Shiva the ascetic, Shiva the dancer, Shiva being warned by Parvati about the demon Ravana , and river goddess. Within the courtyard, there is a central shrine dedicated to Shiva , and an image of his mount Nandi (the sacred bull). The central shrine housing
459-525: A zoo-anthropomorphic form, with the head of bull and four hands, with antelope , axe, mace, and abhayamudra . In his mount form, Nandi is depicted as a seated bull in all Shiva temples, all over the world. This form has been found even in Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia . The white color of the bull symbolizes purity and justice. Symbolically, the seated Nandi faces the sanctum in Shiva temples and represents an individual jiva (soul) and
510-538: Is a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon based on an engraving of a painting by Samuel Prout published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book , 1833. This includes observations on the temple by Lord Munster from his Overland Journey from India . IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration ( IAST ) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It
561-435: Is actually glottal , not velar . Some letters are modified with diacritics : Long vowels are marked with an overline (often called a macron ). Vocalic (syllabic) consonants, retroflexes and ṣ ( / ʂ ~ ɕ ~ʃ/ ) have an underdot . One letter has an overdot: ṅ ( /ŋ/ ). One has an acute accent : ś ( /ʃ/ ). One letter has a line below: ḻ ( / ɭ / ) (Vedic). Unlike ASCII -only romanisations such as ITRANS or Harvard-Kyoto ,
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#1733084741038612-654: Is based on a scheme that emerged during the 19th century from suggestions by Charles Trevelyan , William Jones , Monier Monier-Williams and other scholars, and formalised by the Transliteration Committee of the Geneva Oriental Congress , in September 1894. IAST makes it possible for the reader to read the Indic text unambiguously, exactly as if it were in the original Indic script. It is this faithfulness to
663-744: Is identified with the Tripur Tirth Kshetra in present-day Nandikeshwar Temple, in Jabalpur , Madhya Pradesh . According to Shaiva Siddhanta , Nandi is considered to be chief among the Siddhars , initiated by Parvati and Shiva . He is regarded to have passed on what he had learned to his eight disciples, namely, the Four Kumaras , Tirumular , Vyagrapada (also known as Pullipani), Patanjali , and Sivayoga Muni. They were sent out in eight different directions to spread his wisdom. His teachings are held by
714-473: Is notable for its vertical excavation—carvers started at the top of the original 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 appears to refer to the construction of the Kailasa temple. The earliest extant text to mention this legend is Katha-Kalpataru by Krishna Yajnavalki (c. 1470-1535 CE). According to this legend,
765-446: Is the bull vahana (mount) of the Hindu god Shiva . He is also the guardian deity of Kailash , the abode of Shiva. Almost all Shiva temples display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. The Sanskrit word nandi ( Sanskrit : नन्दि ) means happy, joy, and satisfaction, the properties of divine guardian of Shiva-Nandi. The application of the name Nandi to
816-445: The lingam features a flat-roofed mandapa supported by 16 pillars, and a Dravidian shikhara . The shrine – complete with pillars, windows, inner and outer rooms, gathering halls, and an enormous stone lingam at its heart – is carved with niches, plasters, windows as well as images of deities, maithuna (erotic male and female figures) and other figures. As is traditional in Shiva temples, Nandi sits on
867-406: The Ellora Caves , ranging for over two kilometres (1.2 mi) along the sloping basalt cliff at the site. Most of the excavation of the temple is generally attributed to the eighth century Rashtrakuta king Krishna I ( r. c. 756 – 773 ), with some elements completed later. The temple architecture shows traces of Pallava and Chalukya styles. The temple contains
918-753: The ISO 15919 standard for transliterating Indic scripts emerged in 2001 from the standards and library worlds. For the most part, ISO 15919 follows the IAST scheme, departing from it only in minor ways (e.g., ṃ/ṁ and ṛ/r̥)—see comparison below. The Indian National Library at Kolkata romanization , intended for the romanisation of all Indic scripts , is an extension of IAST. The IAST letters are listed with their Devanagari equivalents and phonetic values in IPA , valid for Sanskrit , Hindi and other modern languages that use Devanagari script, but some phonological changes have occurred: * H
969-455: The Kailasa temple at Kanchi , but it is not an exact imitation of these two temples. The southern influence on the temple architecture can be attributed to the involvement of Chalukya and Pallava artists in its construction. The indigenous Deccan artisans appear to have played a subordinate role in the temple's construction. The entrance to the temple courtyard features a low gopuram . Most of
1020-602: The Nandinatha Sampradaya , a line of gurus who claim descent from Nandi. Many Puranic legends are available about Nandi. One describes his conflict with Ravana , the antagonist of the Ramayana . Nandi cursed Ravana, the rakshasa king of Lanka , that his kingdom would be burnt by a forest-dweller monkey ( vanara ), since he behaved in a restless manner, just like a monkey, while waiting to meet Shiva . Later, Hanuman burned Lanka when he went in search of Sita , who
1071-685: 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
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#17330847410381122-458: The architecture of the temple, and concluded that the major part of the temple was completed during the reign of Krishna I, although he agreed with Goetz that some other parts of the temple complex can be dated to the later rulers. According to Dhavalikar, the following components were completed by Krishna: the main shrine, its gateway, the Nandi mandapa , the lower storey, the elephant–lion frieze,
1173-643: The area of Sanskrit studies make use of free OpenType fonts such as FreeSerif or Gentium , both of which have complete support for the full repertoire of conjoined diacritics in the IAST character set. Released under the GNU FreeFont or SIL Open Font License , respectively, such fonts may be freely shared and do not require the person reading or editing a document to purchase proprietary software to make use of its associated fonts. Nandi (mythology) Saiddhantika Non - Saiddhantika Nandi ( Sanskrit : नन्दि ), also known as Nandikeshvara or Nandideva ,
1224-502: The bull (Sanskrit: Vṛṣabha ) is a development of recent syncretism of different regional beliefs within Shaivism. The name Nandi was widely used instead for an anthropomorphic door-keeper of Kailash, rather than his mount in the oldest Shaivite texts in Sanskrit, Tamil, and other Indian languages. Siddhanta texts distinguish between Nandi and Vṛṣabha . Nandi is described as the son of
1275-424: 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, quarrying
1326-526: The consumer edition since XP. This is limited to characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). Characters are searchable by Unicode character name, and the table can be limited to a particular code block. More advanced third-party tools of the same type are also available (a notable freeware example is BabelMap ). macOS provides a "character palette" with much the same functionality, along with searching by related characters, glyph tables in
1377-399: 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 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
1428-454: The deities at the left of the entrance are Shaivaite (affiliated with Shiva ) while on the right hand side the deities are Vaishnavaites (affiliated with Vishnu ). A two-storeyed gateway opens to reveal a U-shaped courtyard. The dimensions of the courtyard are 82 m x 46 m at the base. The courtyard is edged by a columned arcade three storeys high. The arcades are punctuated by huge sculpted panels, and alcoves containing enormous sculptures of
1479-525: The diacritics used for IAST allow capitalisation of proper names. The capital variants of letters never occurring word-initially ( Ṇ Ṅ Ñ Ṝ Ḹ ) are useful only when writing in all-caps and in Pāṇini contexts for which the convention is to typeset the IT sounds as capital letters. For the most part, IAST is a subset of ISO 15919 that merges the retroflex (underdotted) liquids with the vocalic ones ( ringed below ) and
1530-564: The entire temple was planned at the beginning. The main shrine is very similar to (although much larger than) 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
1581-413: The form of a whale and started to trouble the people. Parvati's father declared that the man who would kill the whale would marry his daughter. Later, Shiva took the form of a fisherman and killed the whale, and received Parvati in her previous form. The Cham Hindus of Vietnam believe that when they die, Nandi takes their soul to the holy land of India from Vietnam. The Agamas describe Nandi in
Kailasa Temple, Ellora - Misplaced Pages Continue
1632-420: The local king suffered from a severe disease. His queen prayed to the god Ghrishneshwar (Shiva) at Elapura to cure her husband. She vowed to construct a temple if her wish was granted, and promised to observe a fast until she could see the shikhara (top) of this temple. After the king was cured, she requested him to build a temple immediately, but multiple architects declared that it would take months to build
1683-473: The message that the jiva should always be focused on the Parameshvara . From the yogic perspective, Nandi is the mind dedicated to Shiva, the absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb light, the experience, and the wisdom is Nandi, who is the guru within. Nandi flag or Vrshabha flag, a flag with the emblem of seated bull is recognized as the flag of Shaivism, particularly among Tamil community all over
1734-716: The opportunity to install and use the sa-itrans-iast input handler which provides complete support for the ISO 15919 standard for the romanization of Indic languages as part of the m17n library. Or user can use some Unicode characters in Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A, Latin Extended Additional and Combining Diarcritical Marks block to write IAST. Only certain fonts support all the Latin Unicode characters essential for
1785-456: The original scripts that accounts for its continuing popularity amongst scholars. Scholars commonly use IAST in publications that cite textual material in Sanskrit, Pāḷi and other classical Indian languages. IAST is also used for major e-text repositories such as SARIT, Muktabodha, GRETIL, and sanskritdocuments.org. The IAST scheme represents more than a century of scholarly usage in books and journals on classical Indian studies. By contrast,
1836-506: The porch of the temple. The base of the temple hall features scenes from Mahabharata and Ramayana . There are five detached shrines in the temple premises; three of these are dedicated to the river goddesses: Ganga , Yamuna and Saraswati . There are two Dwajasthambams (pillars with flagstaff) in the courtyard. A notable sculpture is that of the Ravana attempting to lift Mount Kailasa. [REDACTED] The Kylas, Caves of Ellora .
1887-461: 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. Dhavalikar pointed out that no major part of the monolithic temple appears to have been an afterthought: architectural evidence suggests that
1938-423: The reign of Dantidurga. Krishna consecrated its first complete version, which was much smaller than the present-day temple. According to Goetz, Dantidurga's role in the temple construction must have been deliberately suppressed, as Krishna sidelined Dantidurga's sons to claim the throne after his death. Based on analysis of the different styles, Goetz further hypothesized that the later Rashtrakuta rulers also extended
1989-456: The reigns of multiple kings. Some of the temple reliefs feature the same style as the one used in the Dashavatara cave (Cave 15), which is located next to the temple. The Dashavatara cave contains an inscription of Krishna's predecessor and nephew Dantidurga (c. 735–756 CE). Based on this, art historian Hermann Goetz (1952) theorized that the construction of the Kailasa temple began during
2040-545: The request and guidance of S. Danapala, a Sri Lankan Shaiva personage, in the 1990s. The first Nandi flag was hoisted in 1998, at Colombo Hindu College at Ratmalana , Sri Lanka. Following years, it was declared as the official Shaiva flag in fourth International Saiva Siddhanta Conference, held in Zurich in 2008. Nowadays, Tamil Shaivas, especially in Sri Lanka , Canada , Australia , UK , South Africa , and Switzerland , hoist
2091-464: The right side of the keyboard instead of Ctrl+Alt combination). Many systems provide a way to select Unicode characters visually. ISO/IEC 14755 refers to this as a screen-selection entry method . Microsoft Windows has provided a Unicode version of the Character Map program (find it by hitting ⊞ Win + R then type charmap then hit ↵ Enter ) since version NT 4.0 – appearing in
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2142-436: The rock-cut phase of Indian architecture ". The top of the structure over the sanctuary is 32.6 metres (107 ft) above the level of the court below. Although the rock face slopes downwards from the rear of the temple to the front, archaeologists believe it was sculpted from a single rock. The Kailasa temple (Cave 16) is the largest of the 34 Hindu , Buddhist , and Jain cave temples and monasteries known collectively as
2193-426: The sage Shilada. Shilada underwent severe penance to have a boon– a child with immortality and blessings of Shiva, and received Nandi as his son. Shiva Purana says that Nandi was born from a yajna performed by Shilada. Nandi grew up as an ardent devotee of Shiva and he performed severe penance to become his gate-keeper, as well as his mount, on the banks of river Narmada . According to regional legend , this site
2244-400: The short close-mid vowels with the long ones. The following seven exceptions are from the ISO standard accommodating an extended repertoire of symbols to allow transliteration of Devanāgarī and other Indic scripts , as used for languages other than Sanskrit. The most convenient method of inputting romanized Sanskrit is by setting up an alternative keyboard layout . This allows one to hold
2295-548: The temple to "Krishnaraja" ( IAST Kṛṣṇarāja): However, the attribution of the temple to Krishna I is not completely certain because these epigraphs are not physically connected to the caves, and do not date Krishnaraja's reign. Moreover, the land grants issued by Krishna's successors do not contain any references to the Kailasa temple . The Kailasa temple features the use of multiple distinct architectural and sculptural styles. This, combined with its relatively large size, has led some scholars to believe that its construction spanned
2346-416: The temple. These rulers include Dhruva Dharavarsha , Govinda III , Amoghavarsha , and Krishna III . According to Goetz, the 11th century Paramara ruler Bhoja commissioned the elephant-lion frieze on the lower plinth during his invasion of Deccan, and added a new layer of paintings. Finally, Ahilyabai Holkar commissioned the last layer of paintings in the temple. M. K. Dhavalikar (1982) analyzed
2397-483: The transliteration of Indic scripts according to the IAST and ISO 15919 standards. For example, the Arial , Tahoma and Times New Roman font packages that come with Microsoft Office 2007 and later versions also support precomposed Unicode characters like ī . Many other text fonts commonly used for book production may be lacking in support for one or more characters from this block. Accordingly, many academics working in
2448-530: The world. Nandi was the emblem of historical Tamil Shaiva monarchs, such as Pallava dynasty and Jaffna Kingdom . Several campaigns to aware the Shaivas about their Nandi flag is carried out continuously during the Shivaratri session, particularly among Tamil community of Sri Lanka , Tamil Nadu , and diaspora . The Nandi flag used nowadays was designed by Ravindra Sastri of Madurai , Tamil Nadu , according to
2499-463: 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. H. Goetz dated this relief to the reign of Krishna III . Like Goetz, 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
2550-541: Was imprisoned by Ravana in the grove called the Ashoka Vatika . The ancient Tamil text Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam mentions another story in which Nandi is incarnated as a whale. According to this legend, Parvati lost her concentration while Shiva was explaining the meaning of the Vedas to her. Parvati, then incarnated as a fisher-woman to atone for her lack of concentration. To unite his master and his beloved-wife, Nandi took
2601-463: Was indeed the chief architect of the Kailasa temple, which may have been originally known as Manikeshwar. Multiple 11th–13th century inscriptions from central India mention architects born in the illustrious family of Kokasa. The Kailasa temple architecture is different from the earlier style prevalent in the Deccan region. As stated above, it appears to be based on the Virupaksha Temple at Pattadakal and
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