Overview
Ellora lies 30 km northwest of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, on a basalt scarp that was quarried vertically to create a continuous sequence of 34 rock-cut monuments. The excavations span roughly 400 years and three different religious traditions: Caves 1–12 are Buddhist (600–800 CE), Caves 13–29 are Hindu (600–900 CE), and Caves 30–34 are Jain (800–1000 CE). The coexistence of all three traditions at a single site — sponsored by different royal dynasties but seemingly tolerated simultaneously — is without parallel in the ancient world.
The Buddhist caves are predominantly viharas (monasteries) and chaityas (prayer halls) of the Mahayana tradition, with elaborate carved Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and tantric imagery. Cave 10 (Vishvakarma Cave) is a two-storey chaitya hall with a horseshoe-shaped window and a 15-feet carved Dharma Chakra Buddha in its apse.
The Hindu caves include some of the largest and most dramatically carved shrines in India. Cave 16, the Kailash Temple, stands apart from all others. Commissioned by the Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga (c. 753–773 CE) and completed by his successor Krishna I, it was carved from the living rock top-down: the entire structure — a freestanding temple complex 164 m long, 109 m wide, and 30 m high — was carved from a single basalt monolith by removing an estimated 200,000 tonnes of rock. The result, visible only from above, is a complete Dravidian temple complex with a gopura gateway, mandapa (hall), and shikhara (tower), all carved at full scale and decorated with mythological reliefs of extraordinary quality including a colossal frieze of Ravana shaking Mount Kailash beneath the feet of Shiva.
The Jain caves at the northern end of the scarp include Cave 32 (Indra Sabha), a two-story excavation rivaling the Kailash Temple in ambition, with a freestanding monolithic column in its courtyard and vigorously carved Jain tirthankaras (enlightened teachers) throughout.