There are 33 shrines dug from the volcanic rock at Ellora. Twelve are Buddhist from the Gupta Period, four are Jain, and 17 are Hindu. Undoubtedly the most striking, and one of the best stone temples in all of India, is the Kailashnath temple. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and symbolizes Mount Kailash, the Himalayan peak attributed to be the abode of the deity. This building’s architectural grandeur makes it stand apart from the myriad of religious halls of worship carved into the Charanandri Hills of Aurangabad.
The monolithic structure is built in the architectural style of the south Indian temples, and it contains a shrine, inner sanctum, and open porches. But it is all the more brilliant because it was not constructed by laying stone upon stone, but was carved out of the rock by excavating nearly 40,000 tons of sandstone, thus making it an achievement of sublime sculptural splendor. It was conceived and executed from the topmost point—the shikhar—of the temple with stonemasons working all the way through to the pedestal, creating a multistoried temple 64 feet (50 m) deep, 109 feet (33 m) wide, and 98 feet (30 m) high. Its crowning glory is the largest cantilevered rock ceiling in the world. The entire external and internal surface of the temple is intricately carved with symbols and figures from Hindu scriptures, helping to explain why the temple is said to have taken more than a century to complete. It was finished during the 8th century CE. (Bidisha Sinha)
