Ellora is an ancient village 30 km from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Ellora is a World Heritage Site.

Kailasanatha Temple

It is famous for its magnificent rock cut architecture comprising of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples and monasteries built between the 6th and 10th century A.D. These structures were excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills and number 34 in all - 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu and 5 Jaina. The coexistence of structures from three different religions demonstrate the prevalent religious tolerance.

The Buddhist caves

The Buddhist caves are the earliest and comprise of mostly viharas or monasteries, some of which have shrines with the image of Buddha, for example, in one of the caves, a 15 feet statue of Buddha is in a sitting position, in a preaching pose. These caves also represent the oldest caves in the group. In these caves, artists had endevoured to give the work expression of wood, and one of the caves give impression of wooden beams on their ceilings. These caves are also called Vishvakarma caves.

The Hindu caves

They represent a different style of creative vision and execution skills and the temples were carved top to down and required several generation of planning and continuation coordination to take shape. One of the caves is dedicated to Lord Shiva, represented as a cosmic destroyer. Another cave represents Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, and is named Kailashnath temple. The Kailasanatha temple in the Hindu group of caves is a stupendous piece of architecture with interesting spatial effects and varied sculpture. The construction was a feat of human genius – it entailed removal of 200,000 tonnes of rock, took 100 years to complete and covers an area double the size of Parthenon in Athens. Another caves, the Ramesvara cave has figurines of river goddesses at the entrance.

The Jain caves

Jain caves reveal specific dimension of Jain philosophy and tradition. They reflect a strict sense of asceticism - they are not relatively large, compared to others, but they present exceptionally detailed art works. For example, the 32nd cave is a shrine with very fine carvings of lotus flower on the ceiling. On another cave, an imposing yakshi is seated on her lion under a mongo tree, laden with fruits. All other Jain caves are also characterised by intricate detailing. Many of the structures had rich paintings in the ceilings, fragments of which are still visible.

The town of Elora, Ontario, Canada is named after the Caves.

Pictures

Kailasanatha Temple		Kailasanatha Temple
Kailasanatha Temple

External links

UNESCO World Heritage

Archeological Survey of India