Consider the following statements about Ellora: 1. This art-historical site is associated exclusively with Buddhism. 2. The Kailasa temple at Ellora has been built of dressed stone and kiln fired bricks. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Q: What is the answer to CDS (II) 2025 GK Q60?

D. Correct — D, Neither 1 nor 2. Both statements are false, and each fails on a point that is the whole reason Ellora matters. The first claims the site is exclusively Buddhist. In fact Ellora, in the Charanandri hills near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra, is the great example in India of three religions carving into the same escarpment over some four centuries: caves 1 to 12 are Buddhist, caves 13 to 29 Hindu, caves 30 to 34 Jain, with the artwork dating from roughly AD 600 to 1000. That coexistence, and the overlapping of styles that makes the chronology so hard to settle, is exactly what art historians study Ellora for — and it is what distinguishes it from Ajanta, which is Buddhist throughout. The second statement misdescribes how the Kailasa temple was made. Cave 16 is not built at all; it is the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, cut downwards and inwards out of the basalt cliff so that a complete Dravidian-style temple — gateway, Nandi shrine, pillared hall, sanctuary, subsidiary shrines and all — stands free in a courtyard quarried around it, rising about 32.6 metres above the court floor. Most of the work is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I, who ruled about 756 to 773, and the Baroda copper plate of 812 refers to 'the greatness of this edifice' built on a hill by Krishnaraja at Elapura. No dressed block was laid and no brick was fired; the sculptors began at the top of the rock and worked down, which allowed them to finish the roof of a structure whose foundations did not yet exist. (Provisional — pending the official UPSC key.)

(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — D, Neither 1 nor 2. Both statements are false, and each fails on a point that is the whole reason Ellora matters. The first claims the site is exclusively Buddhist. In fact Ellora, in the Charanandri hills near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra, is the great example in India of three religions carving into the same escarpment over some four centuries: caves 1 to 12 are Buddhist, caves 13 to 29 Hindu, caves 30 to 34 Jain, with the artwork dating from roughly AD 600 to 1000. That coexistence, and the overlapping of styles that makes the chronology so hard to settle, is exactly what art historians study Ellora for — and it is what distinguishes it from Ajanta, which is Buddhist throughout. The second statement misdescribes how the Kailasa temple was made. Cave 16 is not built at all; it is the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, cut downwards and inwards out of the basalt cliff so that a complete Dravidian-style temple — gateway, Nandi shrine, pillared hall, sanctuary, subsidiary shrines and all — stands free in a courtyard quarried around it, rising about 32.6 metres above the court floor. Most of the work is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I, who ruled about 756 to 773, and the Baroda copper plate of 812 refers to 'the greatness of this edifice' built on a hill by Krishnaraja at Elapura. No dressed block was laid and no brick was fired; the sculptors began at the top of the rock and worked down, which allowed them to finish the roof of a structure whose foundations did not yet exist.

Why the others are wrong

(a)1 only — Accepts the claim that Ellora is exclusively Buddhist, which the site itself disproves — a third of the caves are Hindu and five are Jain, including the Indra Sabha.
(b)2 only — Accepts the description of the Kailasa temple as constructed from dressed stone and fired brick. It is a monolith carved out of living rock, which is why it is counted among the most remarkable pieces of rock-cut architecture anywhere.
(c)Both 1 and 2 — Doubles both errors. If either statement were true, Ellora would be an ordinary structural temple site of one faith instead of the multi-religious rock-cut complex it is.

Concept

Indian rock-cut architecture begins with the Barabar caves of the third century BCE and runs for more than a thousand years, through the Buddhist chaityas and viharas of the western Deccan at Bhaja, Karle and Ajanta, to the Hindu and Jain excavations of Badami, Elephanta and Ellora. The technique is subtractive: the mason removes rock rather than assembling material, so the building is finished from the top down and there is no scope for correcting a mistake. Ellora represents the height of that tradition, and the Kailasa temple its most ambitious single work; the site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.

Two-statement items are best treated as two separate questions, and both halves here are testable against a single fact each. For the first, remember which of the great cave sites are single-faith and which are not — Ajanta is Buddhist, Elephanta is Shaiva, Ellora is all three. For the second, hold on to the word monolithic, because it is the standard adjective attached to the Kailasa temple in every account and it directly contradicts any claim about laid stone or brick. A further check comes from the shape of the thing: the temple sits at the bottom of a quarried courtyard with cliff faces on three sides, which is not how a built temple would ever be sited. Note that the Kailasa temple of Ellora is distinct from the Kailashnath temple at Kanchipuram and from Mount Kailash itself, both of which appear as distractors in this family of questions.

Key facts

Ellora has 34 caves along a basalt cliff — Buddhist caves 1 to 12, Hindu caves 13 to 29 and Jain caves 30 to 34 — with artwork dating from about AD 600 to 1000.
Cave 16, the Kailasa temple, is the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, sculpted from a single rock and about 32.6 metres high above the court.
Most of the excavation is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I, who reigned about 756 to 773 CE, and the Baroda inscription of 812 mentions the edifice built by Krishnaraja at Elapura.
The temple is dedicated to Shiva, is shaped like a chariot, and shows Pallava and Chalukya influence; its main shrine resembles the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal.
Ellora lies in the Charanandri hills near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983; the Jain group includes the Chhota Kailasha and the Indra Sabha.

Study next

Indian rock-cut architecture from Barabar to Ellora, and how chaitya and vihara differAjanta and Elephanta, and what separates each from Ellora in faith, date and patronageThe Rashtrakutas — Dantidurga, Krishna I, Amoghavarsha — and their building programmeDravidian temple form, and the Pallava and Chalukya models behind the Kailasa templeIndia's UNESCO World Heritage cave sites and the ASI's work in conserving them

Common traps

Assuming every great cave site is Buddhist; Ellora is Buddhist, Hindu and Jain, and Elephanta is Shaiva.
Reading 'temple' as 'built structure' — the Kailasa temple is quarried out of the cliff, and no stone was laid.
Confusing the Kailasa temple at Ellora with the Kailashnath temple at Kanchipuram, which is a structural Pallava temple.

As a two-statement item like this one, as a pairs item on cave sites and faiths, or through the Rashtrakutas and the patronage of the Kailasa temple.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2013_GS1_Q42013Open & attempt →

With reference to the history of Indian rock-cut architecture, consider the following statements: 1. The caves at Badami are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India. 2. The Barabar rock-cut caves were originally made for Ajivikas by Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. 3. At Ellora, caves were made for different faiths. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer(c) 3 only

UPSC's own keyed answer to the first half of this item. Its third statement is that caves at Ellora were made for different faiths, and the key accepts it — which is exactly why the claim that Ellora is exclusively Buddhist cannot stand.

UPSC_2016_GS1_Q652016Open & attempt →

What is/are common to the two historical places known as Ajanta and Mahabalipuram? 1. Both were built in the same period. 2. Both belong to the same religious denomination. 3. Both have rock-cut monuments. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) None of the statements given above is correct

Answer(b) 3 only

The same technique tested across two other sites. What the key accepts about Ajanta and Mahabalipuram is that both are rock-cut, and that is precisely the property the second statement of this item denies to the Kailasa temple.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Kailasa temple at Ellora is generally attributed to the patronage of which ruler?
- (a)Pulakeshin II of the Chalukyas
- (b)Krishna I of the Rashtrakutas
- (c)Narasimhavarman I of the Pallavas
- (d)Harshavardhana of Kanauj
Answer(b) Krishna I of the Rashtrakutas — he ruled about 756 to 773 CE, and the Baroda inscription of 812 credits the edifice at Elapura to Krishnaraja.
practice — not a real PYQ
The caves at Ellora were excavated for which religious traditions?
- (a)Buddhism only
- (b)Buddhism and Jainism only
- (c)Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism
- (d)Hinduism and Jainism only
Answer(c) Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism — caves 1 to 12 are Buddhist, 13 to 29 Hindu and 30 to 34 Jain, cut into the same cliff over some four centuries.