Kailasa Temple: History and Interesting Facts of Ellora Cave 16

Here is a temple – The Kailasa Temple of Ellora caves in Maharashtra – the finest example of “Faith: carving a temple out of a mountain”. It is beautiful and so different from other Ellora caves that I had to share Kailasa temple History and Facts separately.

A long row of life sized elephants…. Kailasa Temple

Kailasa Temple History and Facts

Kailasa Temple History

This temple was built by the 8th century Rashtrakuta King Krishna I between the year 756 and 773 AD. There are no written records, no inscriptions of this though.

According to historians, the temple was built in 18 years using the most basic tools, such as hammers and chisels. But in the absence of modern tools it really amazes historians, archaeologists and all how such a wonder can be created with basic tools!

Construction resembles Virupaksha Temple in Pattadakal.

Legend of Kailasa Temple

Like for every temple of ancient origin Kailasa Temple too has an interesting legend of how and why it was created. The story written by Krishna Yajnavalki in Katha-Kalpataru goes like this:

When the ruling king fell severely ill, his queen prayed to Lord Shiva that her husband be cured and in return for his health, the queen vowed to construct a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. She promised to fast until the shikhara, or peak, of the temple was completed.

The king recovered fast and they began construction of the temple. However they realized it would take years for the shikhara to emerge. Luckily for them, a smart architect/sculptor suggested that by starting from the top of the mountain, he could make the temple’s shikhara appear within a week. This was a big relief of the queen, who could finish her fast soon.

Thus, the temple was constructed from the top down.

Heritage Gem of India – Kailasa Temple History and Facts

Architecture Details of Kailasa Temple

The temple is not a constructed structure, in the sense it is not made of stone blocks but it is carved out of single solid volcanic rock. Usually the foundation is laid first and then the construction proceeds upwards, layer after layer.

But in this case the construction started from top and went all the way down. It is called vertical excavation technique. Kailasa Temple is recognized as the greatest monolithic structure in world today. And it is definitely not a cave, please.

You will find unimaginable perfection in the curves and emotions of the sculptures. Unfortunately some of the carvings have worn off and the features aren’t as sharp as they used to be.

This temple was initially covered with white lime plaster to replicate the snow covered peaks of Mount Kailash. What a spectacular sight it must have been then!

Most of the plaster coating has crumbled off, but even today it looks so beautiful and magnificent. Only some traces of color paintings are visible.

Lord Ganesha, Ravana shaking Kailash, notice the remains of white plaster and The lions carved out have a distinct foreign influence…

Kailasa Temple Mystery

There is lot of mystery associated with Kailasa Temple. The temple is believed to have been built in 300 BC.

Those very spiritually inclined tend to believe that a very ancient tool called Brahmastra with supernatural powers was used in the excavation of the hill to construct the temple.

Religious people also believe that the inner design and sacred symbols of Kailasa Temple was done by a sage who could telepathically converse with ancient sages.

Dwajasthambam (flag staff) in Kailasa Temple

It is said when mantras are chanted, amidst absolute silence, the sound resonates and vibrates within the enclosure of the temple and its surroundings. You get the rare feeling of connected with Vedic cosmos. Probably there is some underlying science to this but it is not explained yet.

Kailasa Temple: some statistics

The dimensions are: 145 feet wide, 195 feet long and 90 feet high. Kailasa Temple covers an area twice that of Parthenon in Athens Greece.

200,000 tonnes of rock was removed from the hillock of Charanandri Hills of Western Ghats, also known as Sahyadri (Benevolent Mountains) Range to carve out this grand temple. The temple was cut out from top to down in a U shape form about 50m deep.

There are 5 shrines inside Kailasa Temple complex – Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and the 3 river Goddesses Ganga, Saraswati and Yamuna.

The main sanctum today has Shiva Lingam placed by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar (1765-95).

Paintings in Ellora cave 16

Efforts to Destroy Kailasa Temple

Yet another among the long list of Kailasa Temple’s History and facts is the effort to destroy it.

In the year 1682, Mughal King Aurangzeb who destroyed thousands of Hindu temples, sent 1000 people to destroy Kailasa Temple. Even after nonstop work for 3 years they could hardly destroy the temple.

They just about managed to disfigure the statues. Finally Aurangzeb, probably fearing the divinity of the temple, gave up on this task.

Lotus sculpted on the ceiling… the ceiling supported by heavenly figures on all four corners.

Scenes from the epic Ramayan…each character carved in detail… Kailasa Temple History and Facts

Tips for Photography in Kailasa Temple

The temple walls, pillars, arches, ceilings, corners, galleries are all sculpted. It seemed almost like every inch of surface area of the temple had to say some story.

Figures of Gods and Goddesses from the Puranas, epics, heavenly nymphs, musicians and scenes from mythological stories; we could just shake our heads in wonder, awe struck. Heavenly creation carved out with just chisel and hammer.

Here are some subjects worth capturing in lens:

• Mega sized monolithic elephants
• Victory pillars at entrance
• Nandi
• 4 sculptures of lions on roof of Mahamantapa,
• Elephant sculptures at base of temple giving an impression that the whole structure is supported on the backs of these beasts.
• Intricately carved panels like scenes from Hindu epics: Mahabharata and Ramayana
• 10 panels depicting different avatars of Lord Vishnu.
• Demon king Ravana attempting to lift Mount Kailasa.

We spent an hour and a half there trying and exploring each and every corner. If you are touring through Ellora but missing out the Kailasanatha Temple, it will be the greatest miss of your life. Missing out other caves of Ellora is still okay but not the Kailasa Temple there!

Location of Kailasa Temple

Kailash Temple is located 30 km from Aurangabad city. You will get regular bus and taxi services to reach the heritage site. Aurangabad airport is 37km away from Ellora Caves.

Timings: Kailasanatha Temple is open on all days of the week, timings: 6am to 12pm and 5pm to 8pm.

Tickets cost: 10INR for Indians, 250INR for foreign natinals and 25INR for camera.

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(This post was first written on Jan 9, 2008.)

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