The Buddhist rock architecture of Ellora concentrated at the south end of the hill, as also the excavations at Aurangabad mark the culmination of the series.
The Ellora Buddhist group falls into three sub-groups, the earliest being Caves 1,2,3 and 5, dating from round about the fourth century A.D. Caves 4 and from 6 to 10 are assignable to the sixth-seventh centuries A.D. Caves 11 and 12, which are unique, belong to the seventh century A.D.
In contrast Cave 1 in the first series is simple and experimental excavation.
Caves 2 and 3 are essentially similar to each other. They have a verandah or agra-mandapa, with a door behind leading into a pillared halled and an ardha-mandapa. While the maha-mandapa of Cave 2 has lateral galleries on either side, that of Cave 3 is without them. The shrine cells behind both contain a seated Buddha. The shrine of Cave 2 has two lateral cells with an ante-chamber or ardha-mandapa. There are monastic cells on the lateral walls of mandapa of Cave 3.
Cave 4 is two-storeyed. The ground floor consists of a hall, an ante-chamber and a shrine behind, with additional cells on either side of the shrine and on the lateral walls of the hall. The upper floor is ruined and a pradakshina-patha and two cells alnoe are extant.
Cave 5, the largest among single-storyed excavations, consists of a verandah and a pillared hall with 22 cells on its walls. Behind the pillared maha-mandapa is a transverse ante-chamber or ardha-mandapa, with a Buddha shrine in the rear.
Cave 6 as usual has a verandah and a hall behind, having a lateral hall on the south with six-cells. At the rear of the main hall there are an ante-chamber and the shrine.
Cave 7 has behind its verandah a hall with four central pillars and tweleve unfinished cells on its three side walls. The central shrine at the rear is flanked on one side by a Prajnaparamita and its door-frame is moulded, thus denoting that it is the main shrine.
Cave 9, strictly speaking, is a long hall or mandapa, with a prominent sculptured facade - a poor imitation of Cave 10. The back wall is divided into three bays by four pilasters, the central bay containing a sculpture of the seated Buddha simulating a shrine, while the lateral bays contain attendants.
Cave 10 (Visvakarma) is a large chaitya simialr to those at Ajanta with pillars and aisles and balconies in front of the arch opening. The pillars are simple and the sculptures few. The aose consists of a stupa with a shrine of the seated Buddha cut into it, thus indicating the stupa form to be a circular vimana(vesara) with the deity inside. The drum of the stupa has twelve panels all round, ten of which contain miniature Buddhas. The arch on the facade is very elaborate and different in design from that found in Ajanta and elsewhere. Its trefoil arches, and the udgamas and the amalakas. recall similar motifs characteristic of contemporary and later Brahmanical temples in the northern style.
Caves 11 and 12 of the seventh century A.D., called 'Do-tal' and 'Tin-tal', respectively, are perhaps the largest of this class of Buddhist excavation, remarkably original in their plans and storeys, containing interesting iconographic sculptures and architectural embellishments. Though both are three-storyed, the 'Do-tal' cave was so called since its ground floor remained buried.
