The Kailasa temple lacks a dedicatory
inscription, but there is no doubt that it was commissioned by a
Rashtrakuta ruler. Its construction is generally attributed to the Rashtrakuta king
Krishna I (r. 756–773 CE), based on two epigraphs that link the temple to "Krishnaraja" (
IAST Kṛṣṇarāja): • The
Vadodara copper-plate inscription (c. 812–813 CE) of Karkaraja II (a ruler of a
Rashtrakuta branch of
Gujarat) records the grant of a
village in present-day Gujarat. It mentions Krishnaraja as the patron of Kailasanatha, and also mentions a
Shiva temple at Elapura (Ellora). It states that the king constructed a temple so wondrous that even the
gods and the architect were astonished. Most scholars believe that this is a reference to the Kailasanatha Shiva temple at Ellora. • The Kadaba grant of Govinda Prabhutavarsha, discovered at Kadaba hobli in
Gubbi taluka, similarly appears to credit Krishnaraja with the construction of the temple. However, the attribution of the temple to Krishna I is not completely certain because these epigraphs are not physically connected to the caves, and do not date Krishnaraja's reign. Moreover, the land grants issued by Krishna's successors do not contain any references to the Kailasa temple . The Kailasa temple features the use of several distinct architectural and sculptural styles. This, combined with its relatively large size, has led some scholars to believe that its construction spanned the reigns of several kings. Some of the temple
reliefs feature the same style as the one used in the
Dashavatara cave (Cave 15), which is located next to the temple. The Dashavatara cave contains an inscription of Krishna's predecessor and nephew
Dantidurga (c. 735–756 CE). Based on this,
art historian Hermann Goetz (1952) theorized that the construction of the Kailasa temple began during the reign of Dantidurga. Krishna consecrated its first complete version, which was much smaller than the present-day temple. According to Goetz, Dantidurga's role in the temple construction must have been deliberately suppressed, as Krishna sidelined Dantidurga's sons to claim the throne after his death. Based on analysis of the different styles, Goetz further hypothesized that the later Rashtrakuta rulers also extended the temple. These rulers include
Dhruva Dharavarsha,
Govinda III,
Amoghavarsha, and
Krishna III. According to Goetz, the 11th century
Paramara ruler
Bhoja commissioned the elephant-lion
frieze on the lower
plinth during his invasion of Deccan, and added a new layer of paintings. Finally,
Ahilyabai Holkar commissioned the last layer of paintings in the temple.
M. K. Dhavalikar (1982) analyzed the architecture of the temple, and concluded that the major part of the temple was completed during the reign of Krishna I, although he agreed with Goetz that some other parts of the temple complex can be dated to the later rulers. According to Dhavalikar, the following components were completed by Krishna: the main shrine, its gateway, the
Nandi , the lower storey, the elephant–lion frieze, the court elephants, and the victory pillars. Dhavalikar admits that the most important sculpture of the temple, which depicts
Ravana shaking the Kailasa mountain, appears to have been built after the main edifice. This sculpture is considered one of the finest pieces of Indian art, and it is possible that the temple came to be known as Kailasa after it. Dhavalikar theorizes that this sculpture was carved around 3–4 decades after the completion of the main shrine, on the basis of its similarity to the
tandava sculpture in the Lankeshvar cave. H. Goetz dated this relief to the reign of
Krishna III. Like Goetz, Dhavalikar attributes some other structures in the temple complex to the later rulers. These include the Lankeshvar cave and the shrine of the river goddesses (possibly constructed during the reign of
Govinda III). Dhavalikar further theorizes that the excavation of the Dashavatara cave, which began during the reign of Dantidurga, was completed during the reign of Krishna I. This explains the similarities between the sculptures in the two caves.
Chalukya-Pallava influence Dhavalikar pointed out that no major part of the monolithic temple appears to have been an afterthought: architectural evidence suggests that the entire temple was planned at the beginning. The main shrine is very similar to (although much larger than) the
Virupaksha Temple at Pattadakal, which itself is a replica of the
Kailasa temple at Kanchi. The Pattadakal Virupaksha Temple was commissioned by the
Chalukyas of Badami to commemorate their
victory over the
Pallavas, who had constructed the Kailasa temple at Kanchi. According to the Virupaksha temple inscriptions, the Chalukyas brought the Pallava artists to Pattadakal after defeating the Pallavas. Dhavalikar theorizes that after defeating the Chalukyas, Krishna must have been impressed by the Virupaksha Temple located in their territory. As a result, he brought the sculptors and architects of the Virupaksha Temple (including some Pallava artists) to his own territory, and engaged them in the construction of the Kailasa temple at Ellora. If one assumes that the architects of the Virupaksha temple helped construct the Kailasa temple at Ellora, the construction of a massive temple during the reign of a single
monarch does not seem impossible. The architects already had a blueprint and a prototype, which must have significantly reduced the effort involved in constructing a new temple. Moreover, quarrying a monolithic temple would have actually involved less effort than transporting large stones to build a new temple of similar size. Assuming that one person can cut around 4 cubic feet of rock every day, Dhavalikar estimated that 250 labourers would have managed to construct the Kailasa temple at Ellora within 5.5 years. The presence of non-Rashtrakuta styles in the temple can be attributed to the involvement of Chalukya and Pallava artists.
Construction method The Kailasa Temple is notable for its vertical excavation—carvers started at the top of the original rock and excavated downward. The traditional methods were rigidly followed by the master architect which could not have been achieved by excavating from the front. A
medieval Marathi legend appears to refer to the construction of the Kailasa temple. The earliest extant text to mention this legend is
Katha-Kalpataru by Krishna Yajnavalki (c. 1470-1535 CE). According to this legend, the local king suffered from a severe disease. His queen prayed to the god
Ghrishneshwar (Shiva) at Elapura to cure her husband. She vowed to construct a temple if her wish was granted, and promised to observe a
fast until she could see the
shikhara (top) of this temple. After the king was cured, she requested him to build a temple immediately, but architects declared that it would take months to build a temple complete with a shikhara. One architect named
Kokasa assured the king that the queen would be able to see the shikhara of a temple within a week's time. He started building the temple from the top, by carving a rock. He was able to finish the shikhara within a week's time, enabling the queen to give up her fast. The temple was named Manikeshwar after the queen. M. K. Dhavalikar theorises that Kokasa was indeed the chief architect of the Kailasa temple, which may have been originally known as Manikeshwar. Many 11th–13th century inscriptions from central India mention architects born in the illustrious family of Kokasa.
Sultanate and Mughal encounters Khilji's troops had desecrated nearby Yadava temple at Devagiri and repurposed it into a mosque, but they never harmed the Ellora temple. Instead, it became a sightseeing spot for the troops. Afterwards the Sufi orders set up their camps in the Ellora caves which came to be known as 'Rauza'. A Bijapur historian
Rafi al-Din Shirazi writes in his
Tadhkirat al Muluk that the Kailashanatha temples were an ancient "wonder and a rarity" comparable to
Persepolis and
Naqsh-i-Rustom. He asks God to forgive his patrons for destroying similar temples in
Vijayanagar after the
Battle of Talikota and admits with regret that this kind of temple and art had been forgotten. During the Mughal era,
Aurangzeb Alamgir liked visiting these temples. He was infamous for destroying many temples in India, but he called the Kailashanatha temple as a "marvellous place for strolling" despite having been a place of worship for "unbelievers." He further writes in his memoirs that the temples are "one of the wonders of the work of the transcendent Artisan [Allah], charming to the eye, and unless one sees it, no written description can correctly picture it." ==Architecture==