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A rock cut temple is carved from a large rock and excavated and cut to imitate a wooden or masonry temple with wall decorations and works of art. Pancha Rathas is an example of monolith Indian rock cut architecture dating from the late 7th century located at Mamallapuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A Gavaksha or chandrashala are often used to describe the motif centred on an ogee, circular or horseshoe arch that decorates many examples of Indian rock-cut architecture and later Indian structural temples and other buildings. It is called a chaitya arch when used on the facade of a chaitya hall, around the single large window.
The Midas Monument, a Phrygian rock-cut tomb dedicated to Midas (700 BCE).. Ancient monuments of rock-cut architecture are widespread in several regions of world. A small number of Neolithic tombs in Europe, such as the c. 3,000 B.C. Dwarfie Stane on the Orkney island of Hoy, were cut directly from the rock, rather than constructed from stone blocks.
Pancha Rathas is an example of monolithic Indian rock-cut architecture. The complex was initially thought to have carved during the reign of King Narasimhavarman I (630–668 CE). However, historians such as Nagaswamy attributed all of monuments in Mahabalipuram to Narasimhavarman II (c. 690–725 CE) with the discovery of new inscriptions. [1]
The earliest surviving chaitya arch, at the entrance to the Lomas Rishi Cave, 3rd century BC. In Indian architecture, gavaksha or chandrashala (kudu in Tamil, also nāsī) [1] are the terms most often used to describe the motif centred on an ogee, circular or horseshoe arch that decorates many examples of Indian rock-cut architecture and later Indian structural temples and other buildings.
Ancient Indian architecture ranges from the Indian Bronze Age to around 800 CE. By this endpoint Buddhism in India had greatly declined, and Hinduism was predominant, and religious and secular building styles had taken on forms, with great regional variation, which they largely retain even after some forceful changes brought about by the arrival of first Islam, and then Europeans.
Monolithic architecture describes buildings which are carved, cast or excavated from a single piece of material, historically from rock. The most basic form of monolithic architecture is a rock-cut building , such as the monolithic churches of Ethiopia built by the Zagwe dynasty , or the Pancha Rathas in India .
Rock-cut architecture generally refers to rather grander temples, but also tombs, cut into rock, although for example the Ajanta Caves in India, of the 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE, probably housed several hundred Buddhist monks and are cut into a cliff, as are the Mogao Caves in China. Famous cliff dwellings are found around the world.