List of 10 Largest Caves in India

India's caves are thousands of years old. Some date back to the Stone Age. The earliest people to use caves were from the Mesolithic period. They lived in rock shelters and painted scenes from daily life. These cave paintings depict animals, hunting scenes, and figures engaged in dance. The Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh are renowned for their remarkable art. Later, caves became places of worship. Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus carved temples and sculptures inside them. These caves are full of beautiful carvings and murals. Do you know which is the largest cave in India? It's not just big—it's also one of the deepest. It has long passages and huge chambers. Exploring it feels like entering another world. In this article, we'll take a look at India's most impressive caves. Let's explore the wonders hidden beneath India's surface.

List of 10 Largest Caves in India

The largest cave in India is Krem Liat Prah, located in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. With a surveyed length of approximately 30.96 kilometres, it is the longest natural cave in South Asia and ranks among the longest in the world. Krem Liat Prah features a vast trunk passage, famously known as the "Aircraft Hangar", renowned for its impressive size and unique geological formations.

While Krem Liat Prah holds the record for the longest natural cave, the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra are notable for being one of the largest rock-cut cave complexes in India. This UNESCO World Heritage Site comprises 34 caves, including the Kailasa Temple (Cave 16), which is the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world.

Krem Liat Prah, Meghalaya

Krem Liat Prah stands as the longest cave system in India, stretching for approximately 30 kilometres through the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. Renowned for its distinctive limestone formations and maze-like passages, the cave presents a spectacular underground landscape rich in geological wonders. Its labyrinthine structure is the result of ongoing exploration and mapping efforts, with new branches being discovered frequently.

Belum Caves, Andhra Pradesh

Belum Caves is the second-longest cave in India's plains, stretching about 3.2 kilometres beneath Andhra Pradesh's landscape. Unlike hill caves, Belum's passages run flat, featuring wide galleries, vast caverns, and striking formations created over centuries by underground water flow. Its interiors house ancient relics from Buddhist monks and showcase an enormous network ideal for exploration.

Krem Puri, Meghalaya

Krem Puri, located near Mawsynram in Meghalaya, is the world's longest sandstone cave, measuring over 24.5 kilometres in length. Unlike limestone caves, Krem Puri features unique patterns and shapes carved out of sandstone, with an extensive network of narrow corridors and vast chambers. Its geology supports rare plant and animal life, making it an ecological hotspot.

Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra

The Ajanta Caves, dating back to the 2nd century BCE and spanning around 480 CE in Maharashtra, consist of 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments renowned for their exquisite murals and intricate artistic details. Carved into a horseshoe-shaped escarpment along the Waghora River, these caves showcase intricate frescoes, sculptures, and monastic halls that narrate the life of Buddha and ancient Indian society.

Ellora Caves, Maharashtra

The Ellora Caves in Maharashtra form one of the world's largest rock-cut temple complexes, which were carved between approximately 600 and 1000 CE. Featuring 34 monumental caves carved out of basalt rock, the site blends Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism in elaborate temples, monasteries, and shrines. Among their masterpieces is the Kailasa temple, the globe's largest single monolithic excavation. Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an eternal symbol of India's harmonious religious and artistic traditions.

Kotumsar Cave, Chhattisgarh

Nestled in the Kanger Ghati National Park of Chhattisgarh, Kotumsar Cave is a 660-metre-long limestone cave famed for its intricate network and rich biodiversity. The cave features stunning stalactite and stalagmite formations, created over millennia through the erosion of rainwater. It boasts a subterranean ecosystem, home to blind fish and other cave-adapted species, making it a hotspot for biological research.

Borra Caves, Andhra Pradesh

Borra Caves, situated amid the picturesque Ananthagiri Hills in Andhra Pradesh, are the deepest caverns in India, plunging up to 80 metres below the surface. These limestone caves are renowned for their spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations, some of which are believed to be millions of years old. Discovered by a geologist in 1807, the Borra Caves are renowned for their diverse mineral deposits and intriguing legends associated with the local tribal communities.

Elephanta Caves, Maharashtra

The Elephanta Caves, a short ferry ride from Mumbai, are hewn from basalt rock on Elephanta Island. Estimated to be over 1,500 years old, the main cave complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site, best known for its iconic sculptures of Lord Shiva—most notably the Trimurti, which represents Shiva's three forms. The site features both Hindu and Buddhist caves, reflecting a notable example of religious syncretism.

Badami Caves, Karnataka

Badami Caves in Karnataka feature a group of four significant rock-cut caves on a sandstone hill. Dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries, the Badami group comprises Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist sanctuaries, featuring remarkable sculptures of deities such as Shiva, Vishnu, and Jain Tirthankaras. The caves are famed for their ornate facades, pillared halls, intricate reliefs, and unique examples of Indian Dravidian architecture. It was once the capital of the Chalukya dynasty. Badami's caves reveal much about India's early temple-building traditions.

Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, Odisha

Located near Bhubaneswar, Udayagiri and Khandagiri are twin complexes of ancient natural and artificial caves, dating back to the 1st century BCE. They served as dwellings and monasteries for Jain monks and were patronised by King Kharavela. The caves are renowned for their intricate carvings, inscriptions, and relief sculptures, which depict religious motifs and daily life in ancient Odisha. Ranigumpha, a double-storeyed monastery, is especially impressive.

Edakkal Caves, Kerala

The Edakkal Caves, situated on the Ambukuthi Hills in Kerala's Wayanad district, are renowned for their prehistoric rock engravings and pictorial writings, dating back to the Neolithic era (approximately 6,000 BCE). Unlike most caves, Edakkal is not a single cavern but rather a cleft formed by a large boulder that straddles two rocks. The carvings include images of humans, animals, symbols, and geometric patterns, suggesting a once-thriving ancient civilisation.

Which Are The Two Largest Caves In India?

The two largest natural caves in India by length are the Krem Liat Prah/Um Im/Labbit system in Meghalaya, which measures approximately 30,957 metres (≈30.96 km), making it the longest cave system in the Indian subcontinent. The second largest is the Belum Caves in Andhra Pradesh, which has about 3,229 metres of passages.

Which Is The Longest Cave In India?

The longest cave in India is Krem Liat Prah / Um Im / Labbit in the East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. Its surveyed passages exceed 30.9 km, and it includes major sections, such as the "Aircraft Hangar" trunk passage.

Which Is The Largest Cave Temple In India?

The largest cave temple in India is the Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) at the Ellora Caves, located in Maharashtra. This rock-cut Hindu temple, carved during the 8th century, is the biggest among the 34 Ellora caves (which include Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain monuments). Its scale, architectural complexity, and sculptural treatment make it the most outstanding cave temple in India.

Which Is The Deepest Cave In India?

The cave with the deepest known shaft entrance in India is Krem Um Ladaw in Meghalaya, which features a vertical shaft entrance about 105 metres deep.