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Carved pillars at Ellora

103 · Honourable Mentions· India

Ajanta & Ellora

Architecture carved out of rock, and paintings that repay a slower gaze.

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Photo credit

Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0. Resized for display.

Summary

Ajanta and Ellora are two separate rock-cut cave complexes in western India. Ajanta is celebrated for Buddhist paintings and sculptures; Ellora brings Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments together, including the enormous Kailasa temple carved from the rock.

Together they show how excavation can become architecture. The contrast between painted interiors and monumental sculpture makes this much more than a succession of caves, expressing different religious traditions through exceptional craftsmanship.

101–200 · Honourable Mentions

The essentials

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Allow time

3 days as a starting allowance

Choose a base

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, allowing separate excursions to the two complexes.

Getting there

Use Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, also widely known as Aurangabad, as a road and air gateway.

Plan ahead

Confirm each site's opening days and entry arrangements through the Archaeological Survey of India.

Guide edited 29 September 2026. About practical information

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The story of a place

Architecture carved out of rock, and paintings that repay a slower gaze.

Ajanta and Ellora are separate places with complementary strengths. Ajanta draws you towards painted narratives and the atmosphere of Buddhist cave spaces. Ellora makes excavation itself astonishing: architecture, sculpture and courtyards are created by removing the surrounding rock.

The scale of Ellora's Kailasa temple can overwhelm attention to smaller details. Let the major view establish the ambition, then examine how surfaces, columns and figures work together. These are complexes produced across different periods and religious traditions, not the work of one community at one moment.

The painted Bodhisattva Padmapani at Ajanta
The painted Bodhisattva Padmapani at AjantaPhoto: Unknown author · Public domain

The essential experience

Make time for this.

Give Ajanta and Ellora separate visiting days, with a guide who can connect the architecture and imagery without rushing between caves.

Explore the highlights

Look a little closer.

Look from carved façades into the painted and sculpted interiors of Ajanta and Ellora.

1

Kailasa

Study the relationship between the freestanding temple form and the excavated enclosure.

2

Ajanta paintings

Let your eyes adjust and follow the site's photography rules.

3

Different traditions

Notice changes between Buddhist, Hindu and Jain spaces.

For the curious reader

History, landscape
and context.

The Ellora Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Aurangabad, India. It is one of the largest rock-cut cave complexes in the world, with artwork dating from AD 600–1000, including Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain caves. The complex is a leading example of Indian rock-cut architecture, and several are not strictly "caves" in that they have no roof. There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills, 34 of which are open to the public. These consist of 17 Hindu (caves 13–29), 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, each group representing deities and mythologies prevalent in the 1st millennium AD, as well as monasteries of each respective religion.

Background reading: an abridged extract from Ellora Caves, by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and shortened for this guide. Retrieved 22 September 2026.

Turn curiosity into a visit

Plan your visit.

Physical demands
Steps, uneven stone and substantial walking.
The practical detail
Do not mistake proximity on a regional map for a comfortable combined day at both sites.

Before you set off.

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Through the seasons

A place in the world

Find your bearings.

A place in the world
Ajanta & Ellora location mapAjanta & Ellora location map

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A closer view.

Ajanta & Ellora

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  1. 1

A sense of place

In pictures.

Carved pillars at ElloraPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0
The painted Bodhisattva Padmapani at AjantaPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain
The excavated architecture of ElloraPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0
The Kailasa temple at ElloraPhoto: Shishirdasika, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rock-cut façades and sculpted surfacesPhoto: Amitbalani, CC0
A courtyard within the Ellora complexPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0
An interior space cut into the rockPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0
Carved spaces at ElloraPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0

Keep looking.

10 photographs, with full-size views and individual credits.

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Go a little further

Sources & further reading.

Wikipedia: Ellora Caves ↗Wikivoyage: find travel information ↗Current FCDO travel advice ↗UNESCO: Ajanta Caves ↗UNESCO: Ellora Caves ↗

The UNESCO link names the specific inscribed property. A broad entry in this project can extend beyond that property’s boundaries.

Follow the connection

One discovery
leads to another.

Temple towers in Hampi’s boulder landscape

108 · India

Hampi

Compare two contrasting forms of monumental Indian architecture on a longer journey.

Read the guide ↗ · Complete gallery ↗