Kailasa Temple in Ellora Caves compound in Maharashtra, India

© Mazur Travel/Shutterstoc

The world’s largest rock-cut monument. Kailasa Temple

For most architects today, this would be a dream project, for the Kailasa temple at Ellora is considered one of the most spectacular rock-cut monuments in the world. Carved from a single, gigantic rock face, the temple’s sheer size and sculptural treatment are breathtaking. The Kailasa Temple is one of 100-odd rock-cut cave temples and monasteries at Ellora, around 30 km northwest of Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Collectively called the ‘Ellora Caves’, these shrines and monastic complexes comprise 12 Buddhist caves, 17 Hindu temples, and 5 Jain temples built between 600 CE and 1000 CE.

The Jain temples were the last to be built at this place but they more than make it up in the detailing and sheer beauty of carvings on the stone. The reason why we are showing the Kailasa Temple today is that we are celebrating Mahavir Jayanti. Lord Mahavir is considered the founder of Jainism. He was born in 599 BC, at Kshatriyakund, Bihar, on the 13th day of the bright half of the moon. He was the 24th and the last Tirthankar (spiritual teacher of the dharma). Mahavir Jayanti is a festival marked with prayers and fasting and sharing the teachings of Lord Mahavir in temples and other religious places.