KAILASH TEMPLE AT ELLORA

The Kailash temple is the world’s oldest single rock carved, multi-storeyed temple complex situated at Ellora caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra (India).

The Ellora caves are not natural caves that is built by nature out of wear tear of seasons and movement of earth, but spiritual dwellings excavated manually by Hindus out of the face of a cliff.

The Kailasa Temple is crown and part of the Ellora cave group. It is build at number 16th cave among total of 34 caves.

It is believed that this was designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Bhagwan Shiv – standing tall, enclosed within a big manmade crater, surrounded by rocks.

It was built in complete 18 years in around 756-774 CE under the direction of King Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, the rulers of the western Deccan area but ideally should have taken centuries to built. It is found that over 4000 tonnes of rock were scooped out of a rock to carve this temple out which sounds completely impossible even if there were thousands of artisans employed day and night for 18 years. 

This temple consists of a gateway, two-storied halls and the main shrine within. It is the most majestic creation flanked by huge elephants all carved from solid rock, pillars and pondiums.

Elephant is considered as an auspicious animal in Hinduism. Elephants are protectors and dwarpals of many Hindu temples. They protect pride and opulence of Hinduism thereby representing both these traits themselves.

Similarly, there are elephants guarding the entire place within Kailash temple. There are real size statues of elephants in and around the temple.

An image of the sacred bull Nandi paying obeisance to Bhagwan Shiv is in the center of the temple.

Like other Hindu temples, the Kailasa temple has a Sikhara (spire), but it looks relatively small compared to the whole structure. On top of inside the temple, there is a ring or flower carvings on the ceiling of the central room.

The result is an awe-inspiring representation of Shiva's Himalayan abode. Nearby caves are alive with stone murals depicting divine struggles and victories. With these caves, it is clear that India far surpasses the rest of the world in the glory of its rock-cut architecture.

Another interesting fact about the unique construction of Kailash temple is the digging of holes that cannot be done by human beings of even height of 3 feet. The way holes are dug it shows someone very small can carve it in as normal human being cannot enter and dig such holes. This is totally unbelievable fact about this temple. 

There was no electricity in ancient period so the reflection of sun rays from mirrors were used for light. However, there are so many inner parts of the structure where even sun rays cannot reach even using multi-layered mirror arrangement so delicately carving intricate designs in such places is done using yogic eyes.

The temple houses several intricately carved panels, depicting scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the adventures of Krishna.

Also worth admiring are the immense monolithic pillars that stand in the courtyard, flanking the entrance on both sides, and the southeastern gallery that has 10 giant and fabulous panels depicting the different avatars (incarnations of a deity) of Lord Vishnu.