Let’s marvel at the Kailasa Temple – one of the greatest ever feats of human architectural engineering, design & planning!

The Kailashanatha temple, located at the Ellora Caves near Aurangabad, is one of the largest rock-cut temples in the world. Constructed by cutting rock out of a mountain in a top-down manner, over 2L tons of volcanic rock was cut out over nearly 2 decades to construct this magnificent stunner.

The top of the superstructure over the sanctuary is 32.6 metres (107 ft) above the level of the court below. And that’s not even the most amazing thing about it. What is, is the fact that it was cut/carved vertically top-down into the tough basalt of the Sahyadri Hills with little more than hammers and chisels, more than 1,200 years ago.

Imagine the great visualisation abilities, the phenomenal understanding of volume, of scale and the planning & execution of its construction. The mind boggles when we realise the pure genius that existed in Bharat centuries ago.

While temple’s sheer size and sculptural treatment are breathtaking in itself, there is a massive carved panel which depicts the entire Ramayan in the temple complex which is an absolute treat.

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P.S. Aurangzeb hired 1000 workers for three years with the sole task of destroying the Kailasa temple. Unsuccessfully at that.