The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s13.105

c8.s13.105

⁶ The place is to be found under the name Ellōrā, in the *Indian Atlas*, sheet No. 38, in lat. 20° 2', long. 75° 14'. It is the chief town of the Ellōrā pargaṇā in the Aurangābād tāluka. To the local inhabitants, it is known only as Veṛūḷ and Yeṛūḷ, sometimes pronounced Yeṛuḷa; and the name is entered as Veṛūḷ in the Survey map of the village. It would be interesting to ascertain how the name Ellōrā, which is undoubtedly more correct, has been preserved; but at present I can only say that this, or Eḷūrā, is the form in which the name is known among Musalmāns. It is Dr. Bhandarkar who, through being able to quote an unsuspected meaning of the word Kīrtana, pointed out the correct translation of the passage that describes the construction of the temple for Kṛishṇa I., and indicated the identity of the shrine (*Ind. Ant.* Vol. XII. p. 228, and *Early History of the Dekkan*, 1884, p. 48): And, that he is right, cannot be doubted by anyone who has seen the Kailāsa temple, which is of considerable size, most elaborate in its design and details, carved out of the solid rock, and with verandahs and chambers in the rock surrounding it, on three sides (see Dr. Burgess' *Rock Temples of Elura or Verul*, pp. 41-55; also the photograph given by him as the frontispiece of *Archæol. Surv. West. Ind.* Vol. V.). As regards the identity of the name Elāpura with that of the village where the Ellōrā caves are, I do not agree with Dr. Bhandarkar in respect of his view that the modern name is derived from the Sanskrit Elāpura. The place is undoubtedly the one which is mentioned as Veḷūra in Varāhamihira's *Brihat-Saṃhitā*, xiv. 14 (see *Ind. Ant.* Vol. XXII, p. 193); as Vallūra (i. e. Veḷūra) in the inscription in the Buddhist vihāra, known as the Ghaṭōtkacha-cave, near Gulwāḍā in the neighbourhood of Ajaṇṭā (*Archæol. Surv. West. Ind.* Vol. IV. pp. 139, 140); and as Valūraka, or probably more correctly Vallūraka (for Veḷūraka), in a Buddhist inscription at the chaitya-cave at Kārle (*Cave-Temple Inscriptions*, p. 33); I differ from the translation given there, and take the record to mean that the village of Karajika was granted to some members of the community of the ascetics "whose permanent abode was in the cave-temples at Vallūraka," and who had come to pass the rainy season at, Kārle). These two records are much older than the Rāshṭrakūṭa.