Kailasa Temple

Short answer: The Kailasa temple is Cave 16 of the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, India, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. UNESCO calls it the largest monolithic temple of the 34 caves, which were cut into a basalt cliff between about AD 600 and 1000.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) calls it the largest single monolithic excavation and attributes it to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (c. 757–783), citing a copper-plate inscription of c. 812–813. The temple is dedicated to Shiva and named after Mount Kailash, which Hindu tradition holds to be Shiva's home. Rather than being built up from blocks, it was cut downward from the top of a sloping rock face into a free-standing shrine, with a gateway, a Nandi pavilion and a surrounding courtyard. Wikipedia, citing published estimates, puts the stone removed at about 85,000 m³, weighing about 200,000 tonnes, and the courtyard at about 82 by 46 m. Those figures are modern estimates, not records. The court elephants and an elephant-and-lion frieze around the base are among the parts the historian M. K. Dhavalikar attributes to Krishna I. Other parts, including the sculpture of Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa, appear to be later additions. The footage is aerial and close-up drone video of the temple and its carved walls.

In collections:Places With a Story