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Ellora, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra · 20.0268°, 75.1771°
The largest monolithic excavation on earth: an entire freestanding temple complex — courts, gateway, Nandi pavilion, two-storey shrine — carved top-down out of a single basalt hillside, removing an estimated 200,000+ tonnes of rock. It anchors Ellora's 34 caves where Buddhist, Hindu and Jain sanctuaries share one cliff, the subcontinent's grandest statement of coexistence.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
A medieval text tells of the queen who vowed to fast until she saw the temple's crown — so the architect Kokasa began from the summit, revealing the shikhara first; a copperplate marvels that the gods doubted men had made it, and 'the architect himself wondered how he had done it'.
The Kailasa excavation stands inside the Ellora cave complex at Verul, about 31 km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad). The nearest railway station is Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, roughly 29 km away, and the nearest airport is there too, about 36 km off. State transport buses and private taxis run out to the caves.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Rashtrakuta
Answers only from cited records
Opening the line…