________________
Site: Location and Importance
287 travelling from Alandi to Paithan passed through Ellora and saw the Kailasa cave (Deshpande 1992: 1-2). He was deeply impressed by the caves at Ellora and Daulatabad, which was reflected in his description of Gitāratnaprāsada (Ranade 1988: 113).
Kathakalpataru' of Krisna Yajnavalki (ca. 1470-1535 CE) narrates the story of the excavation of Kailasa (Ranade 1988: 115-118). There exists a MS dated to 1780 CE written in old Marathi, dealing with the glorification of Siva temple at Ellora. This MS, called 'Verul Sivālayamahatmya' was in the custody of the priest of Ghrisnesvara temple. The text records the oral tradition of Ellora village and the monuments and text referes to the site as 'Verul', which is the name currently used in Marathi, as well as 'Elapur' (Pathy, 1980: 8-9), the more ancient name.
The site is also mentioned in the accounts of some of the Muslim writers. Al Masudi (died in 956 CE) describes the caves of Ellora near Deogir in 'Muruju-l-Zahab' (Hodivala 1939:21). There is a reference to these caves and the Kailasa temple in Firshta's narrative of the capture of Devaldevi, the daughter of the king of Gujarat, Karan Rai. by the soldiers of Ala-ud-Din Khilji. There is a lengthy description of the caves in *Tazkiratu-l-Muluk' of Rafiu-d-din Shirazi, written in about 1611 CE (Hodivala 1939: 644). In the 'Badshah nama' of Abdul Hamid Lahori (died in 1654 CE), dealing with the life of Shah Jahan, is given a short description of the caves (Elliot and Dowson 1877: 189-190). A Muslim historian Muhammad Saki Musta'd Khan refers to the caves at Ellora in his Ma-Asir-I-Alamgir (Pathy 1980: 3). Another text, Tadhkira-ul-SalatinDakan refers to the repairs of the approach road at Ellora in connection with the visit of Sulatan Hasan Gangu Bahamani in 1352 CE. He is said to have stayed at the caves for a week (Pathy 1980: 3).
Aniong the European travellers, who visited Ellora were Thevenot, Niccolai Manucci, Charles Warre Malet, Captain Seely and John Clark Marshman (Pathy 1980: 3), mostly during the 18th-19th century CE.
A specific reference to the Jaina caves of the site comes from Marathi Jaina text, Jambusvāmi charitra', which refers to Yarulanagara as one of the tirthas, the main icon being Dharanendra-Padmavati-Parsvanatha (Akkole 1968: 192-193). It, obviously, is the colossal of Parsvanatha on top of the hill. This icon was in worship in the late 17th century CE as Muni Silavijaya, mentions Ellora caves as built by Visvakarma (Premi 1956b: 465).
Other architectural remains
Apart from the thirty-four caves and a few other small Saivite caves, up on the hill, there are a few more architectural remains at Ellora. The foremost is the Grisnesvara temple, built by Ahalyabai Holkar in the 18th century. It is one of the jyotirlingas and is considered very sacred. It is visited by a large number of pilgrims, especially on Sivaratri. Near Grishnesvara temple is a stepped well, known as Siva tirtha. It is believed to be the creation of Brhama. To the south of the kunda is a shrine dedicated to Vinayaka. Apart from these religious structures, the remains of some secular structures have also come to light. These structures were in front of the Kailasa and Caves XXI, XXII, XXIX. These structures along with a number of artefacts such as potsherds, coins of almost all the dynasties, terracotta figures, terracotta seals, beads, ornaments, etc. found in the vicinity
