The incredible Ellora Caves, especially cave 16

Kailasha Temple carved from a single piece of basalt

Ground level at Kailasha Temple. Note the overhang of rock

Two shrines at Kailasha, still carved from that single piece of rock

As we approached Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Anand and Deepti reminded us that one of the highlights of our stay would be a visit to the nearby Ellora Caves.

The Ellora Caves? They sounded familiar, but I had to admit I didn’t know much about them. I’d looked them up briefly when we first received the trip itinerary, but the scope of these amazing caves didn’t sink in then.

But this collection of remarkable caves is gobsmackingly impressive. The UN thinks so too because the caves, which showcase monuments, temples, reliefs and sculptures from three religions, are designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Near the entrance, more carved from that single piece of rock

So let me tell you about them.

The caves were excavated out of vertical basalt cliffs in the Charanandri hills. No one is completely sure which caves were carved first (or in what order), but the work occurred between 600–1000 AD (the Early Middle Ages).

There are more than 100 caves, but only 34 of them are open to the public. They are beside one another and are numbered 1 to 34 from right to left, as you look at them.

The caves open to the public are grouped by religion. Caves 1 to 12 are Buddhist, caves 13 to 29 are Hindu, and caves 30 to 34 are Jain. We visited them all (it took us most of the day), and were surprised to learn that most people visit only one or two. I think they are grouped simply because they were built at (or around) the same time. No idea where all the other caves are.

Shoes off at some parts of the temple

The biggest, most popular and most impressive is cave 16, which has been carved out of a single piece of rock. Known as the Kailasha Temple, it is the biggest single monolithic rock excavation in the world.

I have to admit that I was gobsmacked a few years back when we saw the excavated churches at Lalibela in northern Ethiopia (more about them one day), but nothing prepared me for the sheer size and detail of cave 16 at Ellora.

It is huge, exquisite and breathtaking.

I am not alone. Kailasha Temple is considered to be one of the most remarkable cave temples in India (probably the world) because of its size, architecture and having been entirely carved out of a single hill of rock.

We spent at least an hour (maybe it was two) wandering around the courtyards, assembly hall, shrines and many galleries that make up cave 16.

The first group shot at the entrance to the cave

School children listen to an explanation

School kids gather for a pic

We were not alone. There were heaps of other tourists (the vast majority were from India), including several school groups. I think it’s great that Indian children are actually getting out and seeing the important monuments in their own country.

Confession: I admit that I would have followed along behind any one of the school groups but the teachers were speaking a language I didn’t know.

That didn’t keep me from being photographed with many groups, and probably a lot of sly pics taken without my knowledge. Indians love have foreigners in their pictures. Deepti says that some people will make up elaborate stories about how they met/entertained the foreigners in the pictures. I wonder how many dinners and overnights I had with people I don’t know! 🙂

But I digress. Given that the Kailasha Temple is so magnificent (and because I took 100 photos of it), I’m going to devote this entire post to it. We’ll drop by the other caves in another post.

A gallery at the temple. Good grief, it’s bigger than my house

Durga, with all the arms?

The Kailasha Temple is dedicated to Shiva, one of Hinduism’s major deities, and is modelled like other Hindu temples. It is a freestanding, multi-storeyed complex that covers an area almost twice as large at the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I’m guessing it covers close to two acres.

It is estimated that the carvers removed three million cubic feet of stone to create and shape the temple, or about 200,000 tonnes of basalt rock.

Walking around Kailasha Temple,

It’s designed so that you can/should walk around it.

That gave us of plenty of chance to look at the shrines dedicated to deities such as Vishnu, Ganesha, Annapurna, Durga, Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya, Usha and many more.

I have to admit that my head gets lost when in comes to Hindu deities. There are thousands of them, and people can choose which ones they want to worship. My pick would probably be Ganesha. He is the god of travel. He has an elephant face, is very fat and loves to eat. My kind of deity.

No one is sure when the Kailasha Temple was built, but it is often attributed to the Rashtrakuta king, Krishna I, who reigned in the 700s. It’s estimated that it took 100 years to complete. At one time, it was painted and plastered, and some signs of that still remain. It’s hard to imagine how impressive it would have been fully decorated.

Remnants of the paint and plastering job at Kailasha Temple

In researching for this, I read a blog that said Kailasha Temple was blocky, crude, and just a little boring. I was pleased to read on and find that on closer inspection, the blogger decided it was a Wonder of the World. I’d have to agree.

Three levels of the temple all carved from a single (and very large) rock. See how small the people are