Temples in Ellora
Caves 14 and 15
In Cave 14 (7th century) there are carvings of Varaha, Lakshmi, and Siva. This cave is called Rava Kakhai. Most of the carvings are of Lord Siva and his pastimes. Cave 15 (mid 8th century) is called the Dasa Avatara Cave. It is one of the more impressive caves. There is a Nandi bull here and many sculptures of Lord Siva. There are various carvings including Lord Narasimha and Lord Vishnu rescuing Gajendra the elephant. It is reached by going up a flight of steps.
Kailash Temple Cave 16
The Kailash Temple is a Siva temple with a huge linga in the shrine. It is the largest and most magnificent rock cut temple in the world. It is considered one of the wonders of India. Three million cubic feet of rock was chiselled away to complete the temple buildings, life-size elephants, and sculptures. It is estimated that to carve the Kailash Temple 200,000 tons of rock had to be removed by thousands of workers for over 150 years. Archaeologists estimate it took thousands of skilled stone cutters seven to eight generations to make this temple. This temple is comparable to the Pyramids. It is twice the size of the Parthenon of Athens and 1 1/2 times as high. It is 81m long, 47m wide, and 33m high. It is carved out of the side of a hill from the top down.
On the side of the mandapa (hall) is a remarkable sculpture that shows Ravana being crushed underfoot by Lord Siva. He did this because Ravana desired to lift Siva's Kailash mountain and shake it. Other impressive carvings are the Ravana-ki-Khai, or Abode of Ravana, and the Dasavatara, or ten incarnations of Vishnu. There are also carvings telling the stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata on the walls of the temple.
Other Caves
The rest of the Hindu caves are not nearly as interesting as the Kailash Temple.
Cave 21, the Rameswara (late 6th century), has a carving of Siva dancing and Durga killing the buffalo demon. It has an inner sanctum and is one of the more interesting caves. It has a courtyard with a Siva-linga and a Nandi bull in the middle. The large Cave 29 is also worth seeing. It has carvings of Lord Siva's pastimes as the destroyer.
Caves 30 to 34 are Jain caves. Of these, Cave 32, the Assembly Hall of Indra, is the most impressive. It is dedicated to Mahavira. The Jain caves are not as dynamic as the Hindu caves.
Ghrisneswara Temple
Close by is the important 18th century Ghrisneswara Siva Temple in the Village of Verul, about a km from the Ellora caves. This is an important Siva temple because it contains one of the 12 jyotirlingas
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