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Title:
Volume 13 - Issue 4
Date:
1960
Table of contents:
- p. 2-8: Anand, Mulk Raj, Homage to Elephanta [Editorial] | There was a continuity of workmanship during the long Buddhist period, and this living tradition percolated into the sculptures at, among other places, the Island of Gharapuri (Elephanta). The design was sculptural rather than architectural in character, as shown in the carvings of the heavy pillars with their kirttimukhas. The individual sculptures – Maheshamurti (Trimurti), Ardhanarishvara, Shiva and Parvati, Shiva's Tandava dance, and Shiva as Mahayogi -- depict myths surrounding Shiva in a more or less continuous narrative.
- p. 9-19: Portfolio | Portfolio of images from Elephanta.
- p. 20-30: Neff, Muriel, Architecture | The three significant elements at Elephanta -- ground-plan, pillars, and entrances or facades -- are considered in relation to the development of Indian cave architecture, and their chief features described. The main features of the ground-plan were an outcome of the development from the Buddhist vihara to the Hindu cave. The pillars are similar to those of Dhumar Lena (Ellora) and Badami, and dated not much later than the middle of the 7th century. The facades are much like the ones at Dhumar Lena. The 3 finished caves -- other than the Great Cave -- were made about a century before or after the great cave.
- p. 31-60: Neff, Muriel, Sculpture | The postures and attributes of the following sculptures of Elephanta are described: Nrittamurti, or the dancing Shiva; Andhakasuravadhamurti, Shiva's destructive form, killing the Asura king Andhaka; Kalyanasundaramurti, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati; Gangadharamurti, Shiva supporting the river Ganga; Mahadeva, the colossal three-headed bust representing Maheshamurti, the fully manifested Supreme Shiva; Ardhanarishvaramurti, the fundamental conjunction of the male and female principles of the universe in the anthropomorphic form of Shiva-Ardhanari; Umamaheshvaramurti, the four-armed Shiva seated with Parvati; Ravananugrahamurti, Ravana's attempt to uproot Kailasha, the seat of Shiva, comparable to similar representations at Kailashanatha (Ellora); Lakulisa (Yogadakhinamurti ?), identified either as the yogic Shiva or Lakulisa, the founder of the Shiva Pashupata system (probably the latter); three lingam shrines and associated sculptures; the sculptures in the east and west wings; the smaller caves, with a frieze having a six-armed Shiva, 2 makaras, dvarapalas, and perhaps a representation of Ravananugrahamurti; and miscellaneous sculptures now in various museums. The sculptures are in the post-Gupta style of the Deccan, and related to those of Badami, Ellora, and Aurangabad; the latter two also being described here.
- p. 61-64: von Leyden, R., Drama in Stone -- Notes on the Stylistic Development of the Sculpture in Elephanta | The sculptures of Elephanta represent "drama in stone", with different phases of development. These phases may be chronologically arranged. The stylistic changes indicate a consequential development of baroque ideas, and an individualistic stylistic development.