Ellora Caves

The Ellora Caves are 34 monasteries and temples carved into a basalt escarpment near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) in Maharashtra between about the 6th and 10th centuries. The Ellora Caves bring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments together on one cliff, a sign of the religious coexistence of the time, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

The caves are numbered from south to north: Caves 1 to 12 are Buddhist, 13 to 29 Hindu, and 30 to 34 Jain. The masterpiece is Cave 16, the Kailasa temple to Shiva, carved under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I in the 8th century. Workers cut downward from the top of the cliff and hollowed out a complete temple from a single piece of rock, with courtyards, bridges, towers and life-size elephants, making it the largest monolithic rock-cut structure in the world. Unlike Ajanta, Ellora was never forgotten, and it stayed a place of pilgrimage, close to the Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga temple.

What to see

• Cave 16, the Kailasa temple, including the view from the path along the cliff top
• Cave 10, the Vishvakarma or carpenter's cave, a Buddhist chaitya hall with ribbed stone ceiling
• Cave 12, the three-storey Teen Tal monastery
• Cave 15, Dashavatara, with carvings of Vishnu's ten avatars
• Cave 32, the Jain Indra Sabha, with fine carved pillars and a large elephant

What to wear

Ellora is a monument, not an active temple, but covering shoulders and knees is respectful and keeps the sun off. Expect a lot of walking in the open, with steps and uneven rock floors, so wear comfortable shoes that are easy to remove where signs ask, plus a hat, sunscreen and water. The traditional dress of the region includes the Paithani saree, with peacock motifs and gold borders, woven in Paithan about 50 km away, and Himroo, a silk and cotton fabric of Aurangabad.

Local food to try

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is known for naan qalia, a Mughal-era mutton curry with flatbread, served in the old city, and for Maharashtrian vegetarian dishes like misal pav, pithla bhakri and puran poli. Near the Ellora Caves, the MTDC restaurant and roadside dhabas at Verul serve thalis, poha and chai. Khuldabad, 4 km away, has small eateries around the town where Aurangzeb is buried.

Good to know

• Best time: October to March; mornings for Kailasa before the tour groups
• Open daily except Tuesdays, roughly sunrise to sunset
• Entry fee at the gate; foreign visitors pay a higher rate than Indian nationals
• Allow most of a day; at least three hours for Kailasa and a few other caves
• About 30 km north west of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar by road
• No flash inside the caves; drones are not allowed

Nearby places

Grishneshwar Temple is about 1 km from the Ellora Caves, and Daulatabad Fort is on the road back to the city. The Ajanta Caves, about 100 km away, make a second day.