Buddhist monastery at Ajanta. Buddhism and Hinduism are not
monotheistic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In-
stead, Buddhists and Hindus approach the spiritual through many
gods and varying paths, which permits mutually tolerated differences.
In fact, in Hinduism, the Buddha was one of the 10 incarnations of
Vishnu, one of the three principal Hindu deities (see “Hinduism and
Hindu Iconography,” page 168).
UDAYAGIRIMore early Buddhist than Hindu art has survived in
India because the Buddhists constructed large monastic institutions
with durable materials such as stone and brick. But in the Gupta pe-
riod, Hindu stone sculpture and architecture began to rival the great
Buddhist monuments of South Asia. The oldest Hindu cave temples
are at Udayagiri, near Sanchi. They date to the early fifth century, some
600 years after the first Buddhist examples. Although the Udayagiri
temples are architecturally simple and small, the site boasts monu-
mental relief sculptures showing an already fully developed religious
iconography. One of these reliefs (FIG. 6-16), carved in a shallow
niche of rock, shows a 13-foot-tall Vishnu in his incarnation as the
boar Varaha. The avatar has a human body and a boar’s head. Vishnu
assumed this form when he rescued the earth—personified as the
goddess Bhudevi clinging to the boar’s tusk—from being carried off
to the bottom of the ocean. Vishnu stands with one foot resting on the
coils of a snake king (note the multiple hoods behind his human
head), who represents the conquered demon that attempted to abduct
the earth. Rows of gods and sages form lines to witness the event.
The relief served a political as well as a religious purpose. The
patron of the relief was a local king who honored the great Gupta
king Chandragupta II in a nearby inscription dated to the year 401.
Many scholars believe that the local king wanted viewers to see
Chandragupta (he is known to have visited the site) as saving his
kingdom by ridding it of its enemies in much the same way Varaha
saved the earth.
BADAMIDuring the sixth century, the Huns brought down the
Gupta Empire, and various regional dynasties rose to power. In the
Deccan plateau of central India, the Chalukya kings ruled from their
capital at Badami. There, Chalukya sculptors carved a series of re-
liefs in the walls of halls cut into the cliff above the city. One relief
(FIG. 6-17), datable to the late sixth century, shows Shiva dancing
the cosmic dance, his 18 arms swinging rhythmically in an arc. Some
of the hands hold objects, and others form prescribed mudras. At
the lower right, the elephant-headed Ganesha tentatively mimics
Shiva. Nandi, Shiva’s bull mount, stands at the left. Artists often rep-
resented Hindu deities as part human and part animal (FIG. 6-16) or,
as in the Badami relief, as figures with multiple body parts. Such
composite and multilimbed forms indicate that the subjects are not
human but suprahuman gods with supernatural powers.
ELEPHANTAAnother portrayal of Shiva as a suprahuman be-
ing is found at a third Hindu cave site, on Elephanta, an island in
Bombay’s harbor that early Portuguese colonizers named after a
life-size stone elephant sculpture there. A king of the Kalachuri dy-
nasty that took control of Elephanta in the sixth century may have
commissioned the largest of the island’s cave temples. Just inside
the west entrance to the cave is a shrine housing Shiva’s linga, the
god’s emblem. Deep within the temple, in a niche once closed off
with wooden doors, is a nearly 18-foot-high rock-cut image (FIG.
6-18) of Shiva as Mahadeva, the “Great God” or Lord of Lords.
Mahadeva appears to emerge out of the depths of the cave as wor-
shipers’ eyes become accustomed to the darkness. This image of6-17Dancing Shiva, rock-cut relief in cave temple, Badami, India,
late sixth century.
Shiva here dances the cosmic dance and has 18 arms, some holding
objects, others forming mudras. Hindu gods often have multiple limbs
to indicate their suprahuman nature and divine powers.
6-18Shiva as Mahadeva, cave 1, Elephanta, India, ca. 550–575. Basalt,
Shiva 17 10 high.
This immense rock-cut image of Shiva as Mahadeva (“Great God”)
emerges out of the depths of the Elephanta cave as worshipers’ eyes
adjust to the darkness. The god has both male and female faces.India and Pakistan 1691 ft.