Ellora contains over 100 caves excavated from the basalt cliffs of the Charanandri Hills, 34 of which are open to visitors. What makes the site extraordinary is not just the scale but the coexistence. Caves 1 through 12 are Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls. Caves 13 through 29 are Hindu temples. Caves 30 through 34 are Jain shrines. Construction spanned roughly from 600 to 1000 CE, with Hindu caves begun first by the Kalachuri dynasty, Buddhist caves following under the Chalukyas, and Jain caves added later by the Rashtrakutas and Yadavas. These were not warring sects staking territorial claims. The caves were funded by royals, traders, and wealthy patrons of different faiths who chose the same cliff, and in many cases the architecture cross-pollinates. The pilgrimage site doubled as a commercial stop on ancient South Asian trade routes, making Ellora as much a marketplace as a sacred precinct.

Among the Buddhist caves, Cave 10 holds a particular surprise. Known as the Vishvakarma Cave or the Carpenter's Cave, it was built around 650 CE and features a cathedral-like stupa hall with a vaulted ceiling. The nickname comes from a visual trick: the basalt ceiling has been carved and finished to look exactly like wooden beams, complete with the grain and joints of timber construction. At the heart of the hall sits a 15-foot Buddha in a preaching pose. The cave combines a monastery with a worship hall containing eight subsidiary cells, and its facade is decorated with apsaras and meditating monks. The friezes above the interior pillars depict Naga queens, entertainers, dancers, and musicians -- a reminder that these monasteries were not austere retreats but vibrant communities where art, devotion, and daily life intersected.

The Hindu caves at Ellora showcase some of the finest rock-cut sculpture in India. Cave 15 contains a two-storeyed temple whose upper floor is lined with large sculptural panels illustrating themes from across the Hindu tradition, including the ten avatars of Vishnu. Art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy singled out one relief as the finest in the cave: Vishnu in his Narasimha form, half man and half lion, emerging from a pillar to lay his hand on the shoulder of the demon Hiranyakashipu. The panel captures a moment of divine violence frozen in stone, the god's body mid-transformation between species. Other reliefs in the same cave depict the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, dancing Shiva, and the battle against the demon Andhakasura. According to art historian Carmel Berkson, the panels are arranged in deliberate pairs that reinforce each other through contrasts of cooperative and antagonistic energy.

The Jain caves at the northern end of the cliff are smaller than their Hindu and Buddhist neighbors, but their carvings are among the most intricate at the site. The Indra Sabha, Cave 32, consists of 13 distinct excavations and features larger-than-life reliefs of dancing Indra with eight and twelve arms -- iconography that echoes the dancing Shiva panels in the Hindu caves nearby but with distinctly Jain characteristics. The caves emphasize depictions of the twenty-four tirthankaras, the spiritual conquerors who achieved liberation from the cycle of rebirth, alongside yaksha and yakshi nature deities from Jain mythology. Votive inscriptions dated to 1235 CE record a donor who claimed to have converted the Charanandri Hills into a holy tirtha for Jains. Construction likely continued into the 13th century before the Delhi Sultanate's invasion halted work permanently, leaving Cave 31 as an unfinished four-pillared hall frozen mid-creation.