Krishna's butterball. In the 1800's some Englishmen decided to roll the ball down the hill. They had 7 elephants push or pull, and were unable to budge the granite boulder. Of course, if they had any sense (which I think elephants do), the elephants may not have been really trying.
How they cut slabs off a boulder -- the rectangular holes are about 3 or 4 inchs deep. Wood pegs were inserted into the holes and soaked with water. As the wood expanded it cracked the stone.
Blocks (about 2 feet to a side) marked for cutting in a boulder.
A small temple carved from a single block of granite. This is the right side of the temple. There are three small rooms -- the photo on the right is the room on the right. Dedicated to Vishnu, I think.
The center room, Siva.
The room on the left -- Bramha, I think.
This was a relief carved into the face of a boulder/hill. The guide suggested it was a student's practice carving or perhaps a test piece. An elephant with another elephant's head, a peacock and a monkey above and a couple smaller elephants below. I think the elephant was 6 or 8 feet high -- or maybe only 4 feet high. It's getting a bit fuzzy ... Detail of the peacock on the right.
The monkey above the elephant on the hillside.
Uncarved boulders and a tree with an interesting burl. (A bit blurry -- it's not your eyes.)
Another temple carved from a single large boulder. This one has only one room, with an inner sanctum in which there is no idol of a deity. Our guide claimed that the idol was never installed (or carved into the wall), but I wonder if that is likely, given that they did paint the ceiling. Seems like one would finish the carving before beginning the painting. 8 photos of this temple, begining with views from the left and right of the entrance.
Looking into the inner sanctum. I think that is Parvati on the left, which would suggest it should be Siva inside the sanctum. The Chinese lions on the bottoms of the columns are the emplems of the ruling family when this temple was carved.
Bramha as a boar. This carving is on the inside wall to the left of Parvati.
Details of Parvati (Siva's wife).
The ceiling -- note the red paint.
A group of tourists in the temple as we left. Their guide was speaking French.
Another view of Krishna's Butterball.
A child's slide. About 3 feet high.
Some photos of a wall next to a temple carved into a hill. The relief depicts the story of a king (whose name I have forgotten) who meditated standing on one foot with his eyes closed for hundreds of years and convinced Siva to bring the Ganges River down from heaven to Earth. The cleft in the stone in front of the elephant is the Ganges. The wall is 20 or 30 feet high and 30 or 40 feet wide. There is an apparent waterline through the top of the elephant's head. I wasn't clear on whether the guide said that this was the level of the sand when the Indian Government started excavating or whether he made some other point about the waterline.
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Here you can see the sand at the bottom of the current excavation. |
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Looking into the temple next to the wall. Much larger than the two previous temples.
Top of the temple. Apparently there was no need to clear away the boulders from the roof. The middle column in this photo has been replaced in modern times. You can see at the top where the original broke away, and you can see that there is no lion. (Remember the lions from above?)
