Ellora: Renowned or Renounced ?

Ellora is not very marketable !!! Because,

Like Taj mahal, it doesn't have a dramatic story to back its existence....
Like Varanasi, it doesn't typify India's spirituality as the West would like to think....
Like Rajasthan and Kerala, its home state doesn't go all out to promote it as it's main source of revenue is definitely not Tourism.... And lastly,
Like Ajanta, its name doesn't start with the first alphabet and hence the taboo of always being referred second in the sequence as if its a lesser dwarf...

Whatever could be the reason, The nirvana that the structures standing here deserves a place first-among-equals can be obtained only if you walk down the same path taken by those eccentric sculptors some 1200 years ago and see it for yourself. Clearly Ajantha and Ellora, started as dark horses as Me and my Wife decided to visit them for a weekend retreat, with only my eighth standard history book (which I vaguely remembered to have emphasized their importance) as the jury to back my judgment. My kith and kin were not very amused - "Isn’t Goa a better choice?". Add to that, the Indian summer roasting you down at 44 C (112 F) with the dry & dusty May heat of Deccan - clearly we were up against the odds. But if Eskimos can brave the Pole, Arabs the Dessert, Dutch the Sea, Tibetans the Altitude, why not Indians the Sun ?? Out came the caps and the shades from long forgotten boxes perched on high lofts. We decided to have a taste of Extreme Living and headed west..!! In the couple of days that followed, Water bottles became what Kavach and Kundal was to Karan in Mahabharath and with sun lotions all over I had to try hard not to look like Kumara Sangakkara !!
(But in hindsight it actually worked for our advantage, what with little crowds at the caves even allowing us to mediate in serenity for few moments in otherwise most sought after chaotic caves, off-season steals in curios, relaxed guides who were willing to spend the whole day with you as opposed to the lone hour they would have spent with you rather hasty and reluctant in the peak season)

I am sure you always remembered Ellora as the Siamese Twin of Ajantha where as in reality they are a good 100 Kms apart and has got little to do with each other. So what’s great about Ellora.. ?

There are two types of structures in this world. One is putting together pieces of materials and creating living space. They are called "buildings" and the basic idea is to "Construct"; we see them everywhere and live and work in one. The other one defies your common sense and flies in the face. They are called the "Excavated" ones, where you remove pieces out of a single pre-existing structure and deform it to create the living space. They are called 'monolithic' edifices (Mono = Single, lith = rock) and the basic idea is: "Destruct to Construct" . So Ellora is full of monoliths where structures are made by cutting from and across stand-alone large living rocks (er.. why don't I simply call it a 'mountain'!!) The big deal is that, If you make a mistake during "Construction", you can reconstruct it. But if you make a mistake while "destructing" – a mistake more easier to commit going by the nature of the job - there is no rollback; You simply have to live with the bane of being an imperfect structure if the blemish is not catastrophic and if it is, just abandon all your dogged efforts thus far and choose an alternate rock. And what if that single rock happen to measure some 100 meters long (330 Feet) , 60 meters wide (200 Feet) and some 30 meters tall (100 feet)

Welcome to The Kailasa Temple at Ellora.. The largest monolithic structure in the world!!