Not a built temple or excavated cave, Unakoti consists of vertical reliefs cut into lateritic cliff faces, with additional forms continuing along the adjacent slope. At the centre is a thirty-foot Shiva head, known as Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava, flanked on the left by Durga standing on a lion and on the right by a crocodile-mounted figure, likely Ganga.
Also Read: Inside The Rock Shelters Of Bhimbetka, Central India’s Oldest Painted Walls
On stylistic grounds, the main works are placed between the eighth and ninth centuries, while a set of loose stone sculptures found nearby—now housed in a shed—are dated to the eleventh or twelfth. Included in the UNESCO Tentative List in 2022, it contains no enclosing structure or masonry frame, and the carvings remain in open contact with forest and natural erosion.
