Approximately 200,000 tonnes of rock was excavated for the construction of temple, making the temple world`s largest monolithic structure. Among the interiors, pillars were decorated rather than only being the functional. Kailasa is the home of Lord Shiva at Himalayas. The entire volume of the temple is covered with exquisite sculptures that are depicting various scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharatha. There are five Jain caves, which are also worthwhile to see over here. Two great trenches were dug into the hillside first, some of which were even 90 meters long and were connected at the deepest point with the help of another trench of 53 meters across. This gave the temple a look as though it is rising from a vast courtyard at ground level.

The great block of residual rock that is rising above 30 metres, was then carved into the three- storeyed vimana, the main mandapa, two giant dhwajasthambas or pillars, and four sub- shrines.

With starting from the top, the mass of rock was given the particular shape. And as the layer was shaped to its proposed shape, the sculptors began ornamenting the structure. Hence, before moving downward, each layer was hewn and decorated completely, that helped in eliminating the need for any scaffolding. The main shrine and the Nandi mandapa are built on a plinth, at a higher level ranging over 7.8 metres. On the entire vertical surface of this is carved with mythical animals and gargoyles.

The Main Temple is seen as flanked on either side of the two free- standing pillars of some 15.9 meters in height. The gracefully proportioned pillars attract the attention & believed to have once borne for the trishul or trident of Shiva. Corridors have been carved into the mountain that ranges the temple on three sides. These corridors containing a series of sculpted figures depicting the scenes from the great Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

Chota Kailasa Temple: More 2 kms along the same rock-face are the Jain caves, considered as the most recent, having been excavated between AD 800-1100; from these the Chota Kailasa in cave 30 and the Indrasabha in Cave 32 are the most noteworthy. Chhota Kailasa is basically a miniaturized version of the Hindu Kailasa temple. And the masterpiece of the Jain caves can be represented through the Indrasabha temple. The doorway opens in a courtyard where a small shrine was placed. But the temple itself is of a large edifice due to appearance of a high flight of steps and flanked by a huge dhwajsthamba and a statue of an elephant. And the three-sides of the temple wall are carved in a series of shrines to the many Jain tirthankaras or saints.