Devalok
In stone and bronze · 1 telling · West India

The three gods together on the Kailasa temple, Ellora

Genuine three-god scenes carved on Ellora's Kailasa: Lingodbhava with Brahma and Vishnu searching the pillar, Tripurantaka with Brahma as charioteer and Vishnu as arrow, and Harihara with Nandi and Garuda.

Who is in it

  • Shiva central figure of every panel
  • Brahma gander in the Lingodbhava; charioteer of Tripurantaka
  • Vishnu boar in the Lingodbhava; arrow; left half of Harihara
  • Harihara the composite panel
  • Nandi flanks Harihara
  • Garuda flanks Harihara

Places: Kailasa temple, Ellora (Cave 16)

The story, beat by beat

  1. The Rashtrakuta king Krishna I has the Kailasa temple cut from the hill at Ellora.
  2. In the gudhamandapa and gallery the sculptors carve Shiva emerging from the linga with Brahma and Vishnu at its ends.
  3. At the gateway and in the eastern gallery they carve the archer of the three cities with Brahma at the reins.
  4. In the eastern gallery and the Nandi pavilion they carve Harihara flanked by the bull and the eagle.

iconography cooperation

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Scholarly

Sahapedia survey of the Kailasa sculptures

West India · Ellora, Maharashtra Shaiva

The Kailasa temple, begun under Krishna I (757–772) and worked on for some two centuries, is where the three gods appear together most often in stone and always inside Shiva's story: the Lingodbhava with the searchers at the pillar's ends, Tripurantaka twice with Brahma serving as charioteer, and Harihara — Vishnu's left half with discus or conch, Shiva's right with matted crown and trident — flanked by Nandi and Garuda. Visitor accounts also note a Brahma–Vishnu–Mahesh group and a broad split of Shaiva images to the left of the gateway and Vaishnava to the right.

What is different here:

Base reading; the panels are Shaiva narrative scenes, not a Trimurti icon.

Manifestation of the unmanifested: Shiva sculptures of the Kailash temple, Ellora — Sahapedia

Sources: Manifestation of the unmanifested: Shiva sculptures of the Kailash temple, Ellora — Sahapedia

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