Temple making is generally a movement of the creator s idea from within to the
exteriors through the medium of stones. He projects the mass frontally, elevated
vertically in three-dimensional forms and creates a structural edifice. In
contrast, the rock-cut temple presents the spectrum of life moving from outside
to inside to create a world of its own. Rock-cut shrines represent the fountains
of creativity wherein ideas of art germinated as sapling and were later nurtured
into trees. Rock-cut cave temple architecture of South India, spanning a period
of over four hundred years and patronized by the Calukya, Pallava, and
Rastrakutas, as a symbol of political vitality,