A look at the layout of Kailashnath, in a copperplate engraving, 1850

Source: ebay, June 2006

"From the original description:
Temple of Kailasa dedicated to the god Indra and is considered the finest architectural monument in Ellora. It is wrought out of a single piece of rock without any joints, and consists of three different portions: 1st, The entrance-hall with two wings. 2d, The chapel of Nundi. 3d, The main temple. The entrance-hall, which begins at the termination of the exterior court-yard, is wrought in the form of a screen with two wings. It is located on the west side, at the lowest part of the hill, which varies from 47 feet to 104 feet in height. The excavation is 247 feet long, by 150 feet wide. The space outside the entrance is 88 feet long, by 138 feet wide. This hall is adorned with pilasters. The interior contains five different rooms, three of which are situated one behind the other, and form a passage to which two large rooms are attached, one on each side; all three rooms are decorated with sculptures. Staircases lead to the upper floor, which has windows on both sides. This floor, by means of a bridge cut in the rocks, communicates with the temple of Nundi (the bull of Siva), which forms a square of 16 feet on each side. A door in the rear wall opens upon a second bridge 21 feet by 23, leading to the main temple, which is 90 feet high. The main temple entrance is formed by a portico with two porches leading to a peristyle, which communicates by staircases with the lower court-yard. The peristyle is 15 feet long, by 15 feet 2 inches wide, and 17 feet high. Four steps lead to the main temple hall, 61 feet long by 55 feet wide, and 17 feet 10 inches high. The ceiling of this hall is supported by 16 pillars. Two porches, one on each side of the hall, mark the approach to bridges forming a connexion with the main rock, in which the private rooms of the priests were built. Opposite the main entrance another portico leads to the sanctuary, which contains the statues of Indra and of Lingam; small doors on both sides of this portico open on a terrace surrounding the sanctuary, and communicating with five square chapels of different sizes, two of them projecting on the sides, and three in the rear of the temple. The height of the temple above the terrace is 50 feet. The court-yard which surrounds the temple contains a peristyle of pillars, in some places in two tiers. Near the bridge which leads from the entrance hall to the temple of Nundi are two colossal elephants, probably the leader of those placed in the lower temple, apparently supporting it. Behind the elephants, ten feet from the smaller temple, stand two obelisks, 38 feet high, and 7 feet wide at the top, by 11 feet at the base; they are supposed to have supported lions."