Ellora Caves

The Ellora Caves are 34 rock-cut Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples and monasteries carved into a basalt escarpment about 29 km north-west of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) in Maharashtra, India. Carved between the 6th and 10th centuries and inscribed by UNESCO in 1983, they include the Kailasa temple, and they suit anyone interested in Indian art, religion or engineering.

Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves numbered south to north

The caves are numbered from south to north, and walking them in order takes you through roughly four centuries of carving and three religious traditions. Caves 1 to 12 are Buddhist, the oldest group, with monasteries and the chaitya hall of Cave 10, where a carved Buddha sits before a stupa at the end of a ribbed ceiling. Caves 13 to 29 are Hindu, with large sculpted panels of Shiva and Vishnu. Caves 30 to 34 at the northern end are Jain; the Indra Sabha is the largest and most ornate of them. The Jain caves are usually the quietest.

Cave 16, a temple cut down from the hillside

Cave 16, the Kailasa temple, is a complete freestanding Shiva temple cut downward from the hillside, often described as the largest single monolithic excavation in the world. It is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I, who reigned from about 757 to 773, and Incredible India notes that it took more than a century to complete. Life-size elephant sculptures flank the courtyard, and bridges and galleries link the shrines. See it twice: from the courtyard, then from the path above, which shows how much rock was removed around it.

Pairing Ellora with Ajanta around their closing days

Ajanta, about 100 km away, closes on Mondays, so Ellora on Monday and Ajanta on Tuesday avoids each site's day off. Doing both in one day is possible but tiring, since each needs several hours. Most travellers spend a day at each and stay in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.