The com­plex con­sists of five Hin­du caves and sev­er­al Bud­dhist ones carved into basalt rock. The main cave con­tains mon­u­men­tal reliefs, includ­ing the famous 7‑metre Trimur­ti stat­ue sym­bol­iz­ing three aspects of Shi­va. The archi­tec­ture and sculp­ture demon­strate a syn­the­sis of reli­gious ideas and high mas­tery of stone carv­ing. The site was an impor­tant reli­gious cen­ter until the colo­nial peri­od, and in the 20th cen­tu­ry it under­went restora­tion and is pro­tect­ed as a World Her­itage Site.