Arjuna's Penance — also called the Descent of the Ganges — is a bas-relief carved into a single granite cliff face roughly 30 metres wide and 15 metres high. Hundreds of figures crowd the stone: gods, celestials, humans, animals, nagas, and mythological creatures, all moving toward the central cleft where the Ganges was said to descend to earth. It is the largest open-air rock relief in the world.
The composition is unusually naturalistic for 7th-century Indian art: elephants are rendered with anatomical care, a cat performs penance in a wry comic panel, a family of monkeys grooms each other below divine attendants. Scholars debate whether the central figure performing austerities represents Arjuna or the sage Bhagiratha — the ambiguity seems deliberate, enabling both readings. The relief is accessible at any time, as it stands in the open air beside the main road through the monument complex.