3-028-221 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Indian Architecture: the Kylas at Ellora, (Hindu, ninth or tenth century), 1870. Engraving of a photograph by Messrs. Shephard and Bourne, of Calcutta. 'As an illustration of Hindu architecture of the ninth or tenth century, we have selected what is well-known to Indian travellers - viz., the Kylas at Ellora, which is about two hundred miles north-east of Bombay. This temple is hewn out of the rock, and its construction is such that no one without difficulty can conceive the patience and labour which its production must have necessitated. It has been excavated upon a hillside, and this fact alone, apart from the work involved in the sculpturing of the surface, bears testimony to the zeal the ancient Indian builders possessed. From the description of it to be found in Mr. Fergusson's interesting work on Indian architecture, it appears that it mainly consists of a sunken rectangular court, 270 ft. long by 150 ft. wide, in the centre of which is the Temple itself. This temple is accessible by way of porches, connected by highly-carved bridges. On each side of the most important porch are pillars. One of these is shown in the Engraving'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.