brilliance consumed by barbarism

We'd been to Warangal in AP, India last summer. Only when we reached there, did i realize the treasure trove that our motherland truly is.

Lying in ruins in front of our eyes, were the reconstructed remains of a once flourished dynasty of kings, under whose patronage was spawned a variety of hair rising architectural concepts.

Displayed here is a picture of a beautiful sculpture of an elephant giving birth to a calf and the bull helping it when its in labour. And we're talking about this detail not in a huge piece of rock, but in something that was barely 2.5 feet by 1.25 feet.

In the pic, it is seen that the two elephants are standing back to back, separated by a pillar. The way the elephants are using the pillar for support is well thought of. The bull and the mother are pulling the pillar in opposite directions (towards each other) so that the mother exerts the force needed to deliver the calf by pulling the pillar, held in place by the bull. Whether the bull is using another pillar to draw itself outward is not visible because its been destroyed on that side. Also notable, is the fact that the bull has perched its left hindleg to give a pivotal support to an otherwise swaying pillar.

And in all this effort, the calf comes out and the mother is reaching it with its trunk, supposedly smiling at the sign of a new life.

All of Warangal's architectural heritage lies battered and bruised in the present day, following Mughal invasions. Many of the feminine statues have been defaced or beheaded or limbs-slained and many intricate carvings have been mercilessly shattered. If Warangal were in the present day, as rich and unscathed as its heritage in history, it'd have definitely been a wonder of the world.