History Of Ellora Caves In English

Ellora Caves In English

Ellora Caves

• The Ellora Caves are rock-cut Buddhist, Jain and Hindu cave complexes with artwork dating to the period 600–1000 CE, located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The site has over 100 caves, all excavated from basalt rocks in the Charanandri hills, of which 34 are open to the public.
• These include 17 Hindu (Caves 13–29), 12 Buddhist (Caves 1–12) and 5 Jain (Caves 30–34) caves. Each group represents the deities and mythology prevalent in the 1st millennium CE, as well as the monasteries of each respective religion.
• They were built close to each other and reflect the religious harmony that existed in ancient India.
• All the monuments at Ellora were built during the Rashtrakuta dynasty (r. 753–982 CE), who built Hindu and Buddhist caves and part of the Jain caves.
• Funds for the construction of the monuments were provided by the royals, merchants and the rich of the region.
• Although the caves served as temples and resting places for pilgrims, it also became an important commercial center in the Deccan region due to its location on an ancient South Asian trade route.
• The Ellora Caves are located 29 kilometers (18 mi) northwest of Sambhajinagar and about 300 kilometers (190 mi) east-northeast of Mumbai.
• Today, the Ellora Caves, along with the Ajanta Caves, are a major tourist attraction in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Etymology

• Ellora, also known as Verul or Ellura, is a shortened form of the ancient name Elurapuram.
• The older form of the name is found in ancient references such as the Baroda inscription of 812 CE which mentions “the greatness of this building” and that “this great building was built on a hill by Krishnaraja at Elapura, the building in the inscription being the Kailash temple”. For being.
• In Indian tradition, each cave has a name and a suffix guha (Sanskrit), lena or leni (Marathi), meaning cave.
• It is also believed to have been derived from Illavalapuram, named after the Asura Illavala, who ruled the region, was defeated by sage Agastya.

Place

• The Ellora Caves are approximately 29 kilometers (18 mi) northwest of the city of Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra, 300 kilometers (190 mi) east-northeast of Mumbai, 235 kilometers (146 mi) from Pune, and approximately 100 kilometers (62 mi) from ) are located at.
• Ellora is located in a relatively flat rocky region of the Western Ghats, where ancient volcanic activity created the layered basalt formations known as the Deccan Traps.
• The volcanic activity that formed the rock faces west of Ellora caves occurred during the Cretaceous period.
• The resulting vertical face eased access to the rock formation’s multiple layers, enabling architects to choose basalt with finer grain for more detailed sculpture.