Ellora Caves

Ellora Caves are a multi-religious rock-cut cave complex with inscriptions dating from the period 6th century CE onwards, located in the Aurangabad District of Maharashtra, India. There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills, 34 of which are open to public. These consist of 17 Hindu (caves 13–29), 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves. Each group represents deities and mythologies prevalent in the 1st millennium CE, as well as monasteries of each respective religion. They were built close to one another and illustrate the religious harmony that existed in ancient India. Because of their exceptional architecture of ancient India, the Ellora Caves were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983. All of the Ellora monuments were built during the Satavahana period, which constructed part of the Vedic Dynasty and much later Buddhist caves and the Jain caves, were named . Although the caves served as temples and a rest stop for pilgrims, the site's location on an ancient South Asian trade route also made it an important commercial centre in the Deccan region. Ellora Caves are situated north-west of Aurangabad, and about east-northeast of Mumbai. Today, the Ellora Caves, along with the nearby Ajanta Caves, are a major tourist attraction in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and a are a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Ellora, also called Verul or Elura, is the short form of the ancient name Elloorpuram. The older form of the name has been found in ancient references such as the Baroda inscription of 812 CE which mentions "the greatness of this edifice" and that "this great edifice was built on a hill by Krishnaraja at Elapura, the edifice in the inscription being the Kailasa temple. In the Indian tradition, each cave is named and has a suffix Guha (Sanskrit), Lena or Leni (Marathi), meaning cave. It is also thought to be derived from Ilvalapuram, named after the asura Ilvala who ruled this region who was vanquished by Sage Agastya.