Ellora is an archaeological site, 30 km from the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra,India . Well-known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site. Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 caves actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. The caves are excavated in the scarp of a large plateau, running in a north-south direction for nearly 2 km, the scarp being in the form of a semi-circle, the Buddhist group at the right arc on the south, while the Jaina group at the left arc on the north and the Brahmanical group at the centre. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (caves 13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.
Ellora is one of the largest rock-hewn monastic-temple complexes in the entire world. Ellora is also world famous for the largest single monolithic excavation in the world, the great Kailasa (Cave 16).
Ellora,unlike Ajantha was never ’rediscovered’ .Known as Verul in ancient times, it has continuously attracted pilgrims the centureies to the present day.
Siva and Parvathi on Mt Kailash whilst Ravana tries to lift it
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