Rashtrakuta Dynasty

These were the Rashtrakutas. Under the patronage of the Rashtrakutas, was created the great rock cut wonder of the famous Kailashnath Temple at Ellora. There are a group of thirty three rock cut shrines at Ellora, about fifteen miles north-east of Aurangabad, carved into the escarpment of volcanic stone in Northern Deccan. Twelve of these are Buddhist, cut in the Gupta period, four are Jains and the remaining seventeen are Hindu shrines. The undoubted masterpiece amongst these is the Kailashnath temple, a monolithic sculpture of a shrine dedicated to Shiva about 790AD. The numerous sensitive sculptures and relief panels carved into the side walls are each outstanding by themselves. But the central complex of the temple is so overwhelmingly awesome that these reliefs are somewhat overshadowed. Spanning deep into the rock (reputedly three million cubic feet of stone was excavated) this courtyard required the most sophisticated planning for each chisel blow, as the whole execution depended on the mastery of removal rather than addition, leaving no room for even minor flaws!