Antonio Correia
Well-known member
Ellora caves are in Nasik, India.
A visit to an interesting monument.
A visit to an interesting monument.
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From Ellora caves
- Thread starter Antonio Correia
- Start date
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Ellora caves are in Nasik, India.
A visit to an interesting monument.
Antonio,
Thanks for bringing us this window on a world most of us have no idea ever existed. For me looking up the background of this shrine and the network of a hundred similar adjacent man-hewn caves, was a wonderful eye opener!
As you no doubt know, in the first millennium of the common era, diverse faiths flourished in extraordinary close proximity to one another. There seemed to have been no animus. However the anthropomorphic representations in the myriad of temples got enthusiastically damaged as that offended the teachings of Islamic rulers that took over the area in the 13th Century and onwards.
Still, the rest of the shrines have survived intact and this all is part of our human heritage.
It seems that in religions, the doings of imagined beings get told over and over again and then become seriously real!
Then tribalism sets in and faith is used by leaders to win over followers and take control of vast areas of human habitation.
With the events of 2016 in the USA and the defacing of ancient shrines in Syria, we see that things have not really changed!
Asher
Antonio Correia
Well-known member
The main attraction in Ajanta Caves, India and one image from an unfinished temple
Paul Abbott
New member
Very interesting indeed, Antonio. I personally think that the atmosphere of a cave can really impose a religious sense of gravitas; and that's what I get from your initial image too.
Antonio Correia
Well-known member
Thank you Asher and Paul Abbot ! 
The colors inside are not this strong but the feeling inside is fantastic.
I wonder how nice it has been when the walls were painted with colors, colored flags and songs filling the air...
The colors inside are not this strong but the feeling inside is fantastic.
I wonder how nice it has been when the walls were painted with colors, colored flags and songs filling the air...
Last edited by a moderator:
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thank you Asher and Paul Abbot !
The colors inside are not this strong but the feeling inside is fantastic.
I wonder how nice it has been when the walls were painted with colors, colored flags and songs filling the air...
Antonio,
Except for perhaps the early congregationalists in the Pilgrim Fathers coming to America in the Mayflower, most religions seem to have an intricate system of accumulating both enormous wealth and hence the most elaborate buildings and art. It is unbelievable how fast riches can accumulate when the innocent multitudes regularly give very small gifts to their local shrine.
What started, it seems as "medicine men" /"witch doctors", taken to divining the cause of illness and the chances of rain and victory in battles, has become formalized to entire organizations with ranks and rules, mythologies that became the truth.
We are so gullible and vulnerable. But it does give us some great art and fabulous music and a scaffolding on which to lift man from simple raw animalhood!
Asher
Antonio Correia
Well-known member
Thank you Asher for your usual fantastic comments !