What is the aesthetic significance of the mahishasura mardini on ellora temple?
Answers
Answer:
Today is Vijaya Dashami or Bijoya. Today is the day when the Goddess Durga defeated Mahisasura or the buffalo demon, after a fierce battle that lasted 9 days and 9 nights. After killing him on the 10th day, Durga came to known as Mahisasuramardini or “she who killed the buffalo demon”.
Durga, Mahisasuramardini, Hindu Mythology, Indian Art, Indian AestheticsThe story of Mahisasuramardini (which you can read here or here) is perhaps one of the best known in Hindu mythology, and its associated imagery is one of the most recognisable.
I was introduced to the story of Mahisasuramardini by my grandmothers, and also my mother’s recitation of the Mahisasuramardini Stotram. Like most children of the 1970s, I was introduced to the popular imagery of Mahisasuramardini through Amar Chitra Katha’s “Tales of Durga” (see picture on the left).
It was this image of Mahisasuramardini that stayed with me till 1997 when I visited Mahabalipuram. I saw Indian sculptural art in a ‘natural’ setting for the first time, including this depiction of Mahisasuramardini. That was when I realised the immensity, beauty and power of the narratives I had heard and read from the time I was a kid.
That visit also marked the beginning of my interest in Hindu mythology expanding to include its representation in classical Indian art. And Mahisasuramardini fascinated me like no other, which, thanks to my travels in India, I came across in Aihole, Ellora, Patan, Vadnagar and Nalla Sopara. Artiistically and stylistically, each one of the relief sculptures were very different, and yet unmistakably that of Mahisasuramardini.
Concept
The Kailasha or Kailashanatha temple at the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, India, is the biggest of the rock-cut Hindu temples.
Given
Mahishasura mardini on ellora temple
Find
We are asked to explain what is the aesthetic significance of the mahishasura mardini on ellora temple
Solution
The following are the characteristics of Mahishasuramardini at the ellora Kailash temple:
1)Mahishasuramardini is well-known for her distinctive and exquisite position, which is gracefully exhibited.
2)Mahishasuramardini was created to rid the world of evil and to worship other gods.
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