The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c6.s3.5

c6.s3.5

² This spot is a mile south of the present town of Roza, above the caves, and four miles north-west of the celebrated hill fort of Dēvagiri or Daulatābād, which was subsequently made the citadel and site of the Yādava capital. The present village of Ēlūrā which name Sir R. G Bhandarkar identifies with Elāpura where there was a famous temple of the god Svayambhū-Śiva spoken of in one of Krishna's grants, lies to the north of the old site before the Buddhist caves, and in front of the Hindu excavations. *Indian Antiquary*, XII, 228, and *Bombay Gazetteer*, I, part II, 195 and 391. It is not a healthy spot, as we found to our cost, and does not look like the site of an older city. The old site, above, at 'Sooloobunjun' may have extended northwards and have embraced the site of the present Muhammadan town of Roza which is full of Muhammadan shrines and mosques, and is considered a sacred spot by that community. Aurangzib had his bones carried there and interred. What is quite probable is that the Muhammadans, when they first marched against Dēvagiri, found remains of the older city still there, with, perhaps, some ancient shrines to the Hindu gods which, as was their wont, they demolished and used their material in building their own mosques and tombs when they eventually settled in that locality. At the village of Ēlūrā is a temple, built by queen Ahalyābāi of Indor, to hold one of the most sacred *jyotirliṅgas* of India. Dr. Burgess says "Doubtless the *tīrtha* or *jyotirliṅga* was originally at the caves, but after their desecration by Aurangzib it lost its repute and was transferred to the village." *Ēlūrā Cave-Temples*, p 4. The Yādavas gravitated to the same spot, when, in the reign of Siṅghaṇa II., they converted the isolated conical hill, four miles to the south-east of 'Sooloobunjun,' into an impregnable fortress which they named Dēvagiri or 'the hill of the gods.' Its sugar-loaf shape, begirt with natural unclimbable cliffs, lent itself well to the work of the rock-cutters to improve these where necessary and to scarp its undefended sides. Beyond a complete survey of the caves, this locality has not been thoroughly examined and would well repay further exploration.