My visit to Elephanta Caves

A few days ago I went for a day trip to Elephanta caves, according to my personal experience  one should visit Elephanta caves atlast once. 

Elephanta Caves  An hour-long ferry ride from the Gateway of India to the Elephanta Island, located 10 kilometres  east of the of Mumbai . Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. This name was given by the Portuguese,.when they landed found a huge Elephant statue made of rock on the island. The Elephanta Caves famous for its rock cut stone . The carved cave tells a lot about our history and heritage.

A 20ft height Trimurti is considered a masterpiece and the most important sculpture in the caves.Trimurti has been adopted by Maharashtra Tourism in their officially  logo

Shiva here is portrayed as the creator, protector and destroyer. The right half-face is benign, peaceful and feminine, depicting Shiva’s aspect as a creator. The central face shows introspection and reveals the protective aspect. The left-half face is hideous, displaying great anger. It symbolizes his power to dissolve the universe. The three aspects of divinity are combined in one.

Sadasiva: Trimurti  this is the masterpiece of Gupta-Chalukyan art

The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Some of the rock surfaces are highly finished while some are untreated bare rock. featuring the rock-cut style of architecture.

the Elephanta Caves  one of the oldest rock cut structures in the country. .According to Archaeological Survey of India and UNESCO, the cave temples were built between 5th and 6th century by  Krishnaraja of the  Kalachuri dynasty. 

the rock cut temples were created by carving out rock, and creating columns, the internal spaces and the images. The entire temple is a akin to a huge sculpture, through whose corridors and chambers on can walk. The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Some of the rock surface are highly finished while some are   untreated bare rock. the entire cave temple complex covers an area of about 60000 square feet. 

Linga shrine inside the cave complex. There are also several Shiva lingas The main shiva linga is housed in a square room flanked by four dwarpalas (gatekeepers) on the edges of the room.These caves are actually Hindu temples which are dedicated to Lord Shiva. They have been built following the traditional Buddhist method

Shiva as Yogishvara, God of Yoga. called Yogishvara, Mahayog. Shiva is seated in a yogic pose, his eyes look practically closed. Both his arms are destroyed from near the shoulder and the legs too are destroyed. He is in padmasana 

Shiva slaying Andhaka in the northwest side of the cave is 11 ft  high.  It shows Bhairava  a ferocious form of Shiva killing the demon Andhaka .  His jatamukuta shows a skull, cobra and a half moon.Unfortunately the sculpture’s legs are broken. He has eight hands, The flying couples on the sides are beautifully carved.

Next to the Trimurti is the Gangadhara-murti panel, which narrates the story of the descent of the river Ganges from heaven to the earth. Shiva bringing Ganges River to earth. The carving is 17ft high, It was  is highly damaged

11 ft in hight,  Shiva as Nataraja, god of dance. cosmic dancer. This is an eight-armed depiction of Nataraja , with Brahma, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati are visible, The badly damaged

Kalyanasundara: Wedding of Shiva and Parvati , Vishnu and Brahma with other Gods, goddesses are witness to the wedding  on the southwest wall The carvings mostly ruined the sculpture has been significant to studies of Hindu literature

Ardhanarishvara half female (Parvati) and half male (Shiva), Ardhanarishvara is one of the most popular iconographic forms of Shiva.This image, which is about 16ft in height.The right hand of the male side holds a serpent, while the left hand of the female side holds a mirror. The front left hand is broken, while a large part of the lower half of the panel was damaged at some point

Entrance to the East wing from the main cave.The works of art inside the caves are  mostly damaged. cave-3  is away from the main shrine with six pillars, and a mandapa  are three chambers. inside mostly damaged

To the south-east of the great cave is unfinished. The front of this cave was completely destroyed and restored in the 1970s with four square pillars. It has two small cells in the back

There is a beautiful view from the hills enjoy the nature’s beauty .  Hundreds of tourists from various parts of India and the world visit the Elephanta Caves regularly.

After disembarking from the ferry it is the one kilometre distance to the cave site or take a toy train 

A tourist toy train from dock to the Elephanta Caves. After reaching to Elephants caves Island there is a toy train which runs from port to near steps of the caves they will charge Rs.10/- for both ways 

From the base of the hill there are 120 steps to the hilltop on which the Great Cave are situated . several small hotels are available near entry gate which is little bit costly ,  no power supply to the hills , some places they used generators.

After reaching Gateway of India Mumbai there are several vendors selling the ferry tickets to Elephants caves charges just Rs.160/- for both sides up & down, it is one hour journey from Gateway of India the ferry starts at 9 AM and the last one is at 7.00 PM there will be ferry at every 30 minutes

Elephanta Caves has been one of my most memorable experiences in Mumbai