All matter are excerpts from books Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad Caves by T V Pathy and History & Culture of the Indian People published by the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. Please correct me where I am wrong. Have presented the pictures whereby have first clicked from the top of the hill and then walked you through inside the temple clockwise.

"An Indian temple, to whomsoever Godhead it may be built, is in its inmost reality an alter raised to the divine Self, a house of the Cosmic Spirit, an appeal and aspiration to the infinite. The Gods of Indian sculpture are cosmic beings, embodiments of some great spiritual power, spiritual ideas and actions, inmost psychic significance". Quote Sri Aurobindo.

The magnificent group of rock-temples at Ellora representing three different sects, Buddhist, Hindu and Jain mark the final culmination of the cave-temple architecture in Western India. The Ellora caves nestle in the lap of the Charnadari hill extending over a mile and a quarter in the north-south direction, are 29 kms from Aurangabad. The cave monuments of Ellora, chiefly patronized by the Chalukhya-Rashtrakuta rulers (7-10^th century) represent the plastic idiom at its very best when the regional art was in full efflorescence. A tentative chronology of the caves suggests periods to be, Buddhist 50-750 A.D., Hindu 600-875 A.D. and Jain 8-1000 a.d.

The Buddhist caves with a vast pantheon of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Saktis suggest Vajrayana philosophy (the vehicle of the thunderbolt). This philosophy envisages and emphasized self-discipline and meditation as a means of attaining Buddhahood in contradiction to the Mahayana belief, which held that Buddhas would by endless grace and compassion help the devotee, attain nirvana.

The Hindu caves are dedicated to Lord Siva. The deity is worshipped symbolically in the form of a phallic emblem called Linga. Siva’s manifestations are many, as Mahakala or personification of death and time, as Mahayogi or ascetic, as Nataraja or Lord of Dance. In addition various aspects of female energy are also portrayed in the sculptural panels. The other Gods in the Trinity Vishnu and Brahma are also shown in a variety of forms indicating friendly relations and respects towards other sects.

The Jain caves represent the Digambara sect (space-clad). The cave that we have covered is popularly known as Chhota Kailasa and is a miniature of the celebrated Kailasa temple. The focus here is Kailasa and the Jain caves partially.

In the Kailasa temple an isolated part of a mountain has been trimmed from above and affected into the model of a structural temple. Indeed it is an architectural sculpture in the reverse order. Its axial alignment consists of the gopuram, the Nandi Mandapa, the main pillared hall and the shrine, all places on a raised podium in east-west direction.

Kailasa Temple (rock-cut architecture)

In 1998 I visited the abode of Lord Shiva Mount Kailash, in 2001 visited amongst the most sacred temples dedicated to Lord Shiva i.e. Kedarnath and in 2003 visited Kailasa Temple Ellora. For someone whose Ishta Devta (personal God) is Bhagwan Shiv it was a dream come true.

The work of such a stupendous nature was started under the patronage of the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I, and there is reason to believe that this artistic activity continued for several generations. The Rashtrakutas were the successors of the Chalukyas of the Deccan and during the period of Krishna I (last quarter of the 8^th century a.d.) their empire was unrivalled in power. (Friends I have always believed that culture and art excel during times of peace which is why Peace is important not by appeasement because the World respects strength).

Instead of scooping in the layers of the earth, the creators of this cave temple embarked on fashioning in the live rock, a simulation of the evolved model of a structural temple. It is modeled in the famous Virupaksha temple at Pattadkal which is a living testimony to Chalukyan glory and grandeur.

The entire edifice was boldly and confidently chiseled out of a single rock. The excavation method adopted by the artists was to create an island of mountain in rectangular shape by cutting it into trenches vertically, from which was chiseled out the main body of the temples.

The temple proper rests on a raised plinth and consists of a sanctum cell where Lord Shiva is enshrined as a Linga. It is connected by a vestibule to the huge pillared hall, and in front of it and again connecting a porch, the shrine for Shiva’s mount Nandi. Simply put the temple has four parts as viewed from the top of the mountain. One is the dome shaped structure or Vihara as we call it where the Linga is kept, two is Mandapa 1 consisting of a huge pillared hall, three is Mandapa 2 is where Shiva’s carrier Nandi is housed and four is the entrance or Gopuram as we would call it today.

The supreme political power and abundant resources of the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I have a bearing on the sculptures of the Kailasa temple which are distinguished by their dynamic energy, gigantic forms of modeling and animated expression. The sculptures have scenes from the Ramayan and Mahabharat too.