Week 48: Ellora Caves: Calling them "caves" just isn't right

February 24, 2016

We had decided to stay two nights at the Kailas Hotel in Ellora so we'd have the whole day to visit the caves. Also, by being this close we can be there at first light, take a break during the hot part of the day, and finish up in the afternoon.

After breakfast at the hotel, we walk to the entrance booth, buy our 250 rupees entrance tickets (10 rupees for Indians) and walk right up to the grandest of the cave temples, the Kailasa temple (AD 600-900), or #16. This one was built around 760 AD. Maybe it started off as a cave, but when they finished this project they carved a trench through the mountain and around the temple. 7000 laborers took 150 years to remove the rock around this temple. It is the largest mono-lithical carved object in the world. Amazing to think how all this was carved "from the top down" out of a mountain side. The "bang for the buck" mentality was not a consideration and labor very cheap.

Next we take the shuttlebus to the Jain group of temples furthest away from the entrance and work our way back from temple #34. The 5 Jain temples (AD 800-1000) are more cave-like as in they were not carved free from the mountain side. There are huge rooms, supported by rows of columns, niches with beautiful carvings and large statues. Another series of Hindu temples brings us back to #16.

We take a break for lunch, a beer and some rest, and return in the afternoon to visit the Buddhist temples (AD 600-800) starting with #1. All temples are so different, but #10 is definitely our favourite with a huge Buddha statue in a ribbed, barrel vaulted central nave. There is a group of Buddhist monks and someone chanting which creates just the right atmosphere.

We make over 500 photos today. What an amazing place!

Inside the Kailasa temple. The mountain side has been carved away to create a building. In the sidewalls are more galleries with rooms filled with carvings.

Climbing up and inside the central building.

Some of the ceilings and walls were plastered and painted.

We have most of the temples to ourselves earlier in the morning. Later though groups of Indian tourists and school children start crowding the temples. The colorful Indian people enhance the photos, we just wish they weren't so noisy....

Overview of the Kailasa temple. Some guy stood here almost 1400 years ago, looked at the hillside and said: "if we just remove all this extra rock we can leave a temple in a big hole". And then he was able to convince a lot of other people to make it happen. Pretty amazing.

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