Ellora Caves

Ellora works differently from nearby Ajanta: where Ajanta is a Buddhist site that faded, Ellora's caves were carved side by side by three religious communities, twelve Buddhist caves, seventeen Hindu caves, and five Jain caves, and the complex was never lost to view. An Arab geographer, Al-Mas'udi, described it in the tenth century, and later accounts run from Firishta to colonial-era travelers. The centerpiece is Cave 16, the Kailasa temple, a chariot-shaped monument to Shiva cut downward from a single rock face; UNESCO and ASI sources describe it as the largest single monolithic excavation in the world. A Baroda inscription of 812 CE credits the Kailasa to king Krishnaraja of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, and the Jain caves were added under the Yadavas around 1187 to 1317.

The complex sits on an ancient trade route, and its funding came from royalty, traders, and wealthy patrons of all three faiths. Cave 10, the Visvakarma chaitya, serves Buddhist worship; the Hindu caves carry panels of the Ramayana and Mahabharata; the Jain caves show the most delicate carving in the complex. Two and a half kilometers away, the living Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga temple keeps the sacred geography of the area active today.

Visiting

The Archaeological Survey of India operates the site: open sunrise to sunset, closed Tuesdays. Entry is free for children under 15; Indian, SAARC, and BIMSTEC citizens 40 rupees cash / 35 online; other foreign visitors 600 rupees cash / 550 online. The caves span more than two kilometers; visitors typically start at Cave 16, the Kailasa, and work outward.

Photo: [CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellora_Caves,_India,_Kailasa_Temple.jpg)