Cave of my ancestors : Vishwakarma and the artisans of Ellora / Kirin Narayan.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Joining Palms at Ellora -- Names and Speculations -- The Cave, Code and Cord of Vishwakarma -- The Carpenters' "Hut" -- Shadows of Makers -- Surpassing Humane Force -- Communing with Ancestors -- As Regards the Cultural Migrations of Artisans -- The Debt to Gods and Ancestors -- The Pride of the Vishwakarma Lineage -- Open Sesame! -- The Resident of Ellora -- Via-Via -- Ila the Serpent Maiden -- From Mantras to Tools -- An Injured Finger and Other Tokens of "Proof" -- Forms in Flux -- Vestiges of Worship -- Transformations through Water -- Locating the Goddess -- On the Move -- Hands inside Hands.

"As a little girl in Bombay, Kirin Narayan was enchanted by the stories her father would tell about the ancient, rock-cut cave temples at Ellora, which he claimed had been made by their ancestors. Over the course of her life, Narayan never forgot those stories, and she eventually came to be interested in learning more about the caves, and, specifically, the Vishwakarma cave temple, named after the Hindu craftsman deity. Immersing herself in work by archaeologists, art historians, Buddhologists, Indologists, and Sanskritists, Narayan set out to answer the question of how this cave, which contains the figure of the Buddha flanked by two smaller Bodhisattvas, came to be venerated as the "Vishwakarma cave." The resulting book, Cave of My Ancestors, represents the perfect marriage of Narayan's gift for research and gift for writing. It is at once a work of scholarship, a detective story, and a memoir, ably leading us as readers through centuries of history, reflecting on the marvels of making, and offering a sensitive meditation on devotion, wonder, and all that connects us to place, family, the past, and the divine"-- Provided by publisher.