Ellora Caves: 34 caves in basalt, and the Kailasanatha Temple carved from a single rock

Background

Maharashtra's World Heritage sites are the part of the State an examiner reaches for first. Maharashtra Tourism places the Ellora Caves in the Aurangabad district of the State, about 30 kilometers north of the city, and says the complex is made up of 34 caves cut from solid basalt rock. The caves were built as religious sites for Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and they hold temples, monasteries, meditation halls and monks' rooms. The grandest of them is the Kailasanatha Temple, which the department numbers as Cave 16: a monolithic temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and carved from a single rock. Its carvings take their stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Buddhist caves include large chaityas, which are prayer halls, and viharas, which are monasteries, while the Jain caves are known for fine detail and figures of the Tirthankaras. The caves date back to the 6th century, and the department records Ellora as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The same State site elsewhere names the district by its present name, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.