What you don’t do out of love for your loved one…
The Indian emperor Shah Jahan built a beautiful tomb of the Taj Mahal for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and in another part of India, Queen Manikeshwar commissioned the construction of a unique Kailas temple to save the life of a seriously ill spouse.
The story is told by the medieval legend of Marathi. Queen Manikeshwar prayed to the god Shiva in Elapura for health for her beloved husband. She promised that as soon as the king recovered, she would build a temple dedicated to the god Shiva. She vowed that until she saw the roof of the temple, she would observe the fast.
Fortunately, the king recovered, but Queen Manikeshwar continued to fast while waiting for the temple to be built. Many architects visited the Queen’s court. Everyone told the queen that it would be months before the queen could see the top of the temple. By that time, he will inevitably starve to death. This time it was the king who had reason to worry and worry about the health of his beloved wife.
One day, an architect named Kokasa came to the court. He promised the king that within a week the queen would be able to see the roof of the temple… And he began to build the temple from above, forging and carving the roof of the temple in solid rock. After a week, the queen was able to inspect the roof and stop the hunger strike. In memory of the whole story, the temple was named after the queen.
Interestingly, many medieval inscriptions in India mention the talented Kokasa family, where many excellent architects were born. So maybe there is some truth in this beautiful legend.
The temple is known by many names – Kailasha (Kailāsa) or Kailashanatha (Kailāśanātha) and its history and construction is so amazing that it is considered one of the architectural objects that aliens or Hindu gods are accused of building.
The temple is the largest Hindu temple carved in the rock. It is located in the Ellora cave complex in India. The quality of workmanship, size and sculptures arouse great amazement and admiration of archaeologists and architects. Almost 33 meters high, it was entirely carved out of one basalt rock. It is estimated that the age of the temple dates back to the eighth century (756-773 CE).
The Ellora cave complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 34 of the 100 existing caves are open to visitors. There are Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples, side by side in complete religious harmony.
Be sure to see you if you go to Deccan!