Ellora Caves

At Ellora, generations of sculptors did not build temples – they carved them, working downwards into a basalt hillside. The result is a two-kilometre line of caves where Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments stand side by side, a remarkable record of religious coexistence.

The undisputed highlight is Cave 16, the Kailasa temple: an entire multi-storey temple, complete with courtyards, bridges, elephants and towers, sculpted out of a single rock. Visitors often spend an hour just walking around it and looking up from the courtyard at the walls that were removed to reveal it.

The 34 main caves were excavated between roughly the 6th and 10th centuries CE. The Buddhist caves are the earliest, the Hindu caves – including Kailasa, built under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I in the 8th century – come next, and the Jain caves are the latest. Ellora was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983.

Ellora shows three religious traditions sharing one sacred landscape, and the Kailasa temple is often described as one of the greatest feats of rock-cut architecture in the world.

Ellora is about 30 km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), whose airport and railway station are the usual starting points. Buses and taxis make the trip easily, and a visit can be combined with the Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga temple and Daulatabad Fort nearby. Note that the site is traditionally closed on Tuesdays – check before visiting.