INDIA’S ELLORA CAVES the largest carving project in the world. Contrary to commo

INDIA’S ELLORA CAVES

the largest carving project in the world.

Contrary to common perception, It is very easy to achieve this level of stone carved construction in that form of stone, with a large workforce. A team that splits the rock. A team of people that clear rubble – mostly dust. A team of people that manage the forge, tool making, and chisel pointing. A team of designers. The designers draw sketches of each element, others transfer it to the rock, others rough it out, and others finish it off. The rate at which a young man develops skill at carving this consistently is no more than it is today – a few years, so by the time he works through each phase of preparing the rock, you have trained the workforce to produce each stage of it.

While this scale of detail is impressive – the detail compensates for a lack of precision – compare with pre-islamic, and then hellenic sculpture – each of which takes the opposite approach, of increasing precision. A greek or roman or egyptian sculptor is a more precise craftsman than the indian or buddhist, and the opposite in organic detail and variation.