The Ajanta and Ellora Caves Are Carved
Buddhist monks, and later Hindu and Jain patrons, cut monasteries, shrines, and one entire monolithic temple directly out of solid rock
Quick facts
- Ajanta caves
- 30, Buddhist, c. 2nd century BCE - 6th century CE
- Ellora caves
- 34, Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain, c. 5th-12th century CE
- Ellora's Kailasa temple
- Cave 16, carved from a single mass of basalt
- UNESCO inscription
- Both sites listed in 1983
What happened
The 30 caves at Ajanta, cut into a cliff face in Maharashtra, began as Buddhist monastic excavations around the second century BCE under Satavahana patronage, with a second major phase of activity in the fifth and sixth centuries CE under the Vakataka dynasty, contemporaries of the Guptas, producing the site's famous murals and sculpted Buddha images. About 100 kilometers away, the Ellora complex took a longer and more religiously varied path: its earliest caves, excavated between the fifth and eighth centuries, reflect Mahayana Buddhism, followed by a Hindu group built between the seventh and tenth centuries that includes Cave 16, the Kailasa temple, an entire temple carved downward out of a single mass of basalt rather than built up from a foundation, complete with sculpted reliefs depicting the demon king Ravana attempting to lift Mount Kailasa. A final phase between the ninth and twelfth centuries added a group of Jain caves. UNESCO describes the Kailasa temple as a technological exploit without equal, combining models from constructed architecture with an encyclopedic program of sculpture and painting.
Why it matters
Ellora in particular stands as physical evidence that Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism were excavated side by side at the same site across several centuries, a direct record of religious coexistence rather than a claim asserted after the fact. Ajanta's murals are also among the only substantial surviving examples of ancient Indian painting, giving historians visual evidence for court life, dress, and religious narrative that texts alone cannot provide.
How we know
Both sites survive as standing rock-cut architecture that can be directly examined, dated through stylistic comparison, inscriptions left by patrons, and the succession of religious iconography carved into each phase of excavation; both were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1983.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Ajanta · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Ellora Caves · Reputable sourcewhc.unesco.org · The domain "whc.unesco.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.
Part of a timelineAncient India29 events · From the granaries of Mehrgarh to the astronomers of the Gupta court, the long record of the Indian subcontinent's first cities, philosophies, and empiresView all →