Elephanta Caves 🇮🇳 India Best Place

The island of Garapuri, the city of caves, is situated about 10 kilometers from Bombay. The history and origin of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, states that Bombay was initially a group of seven islands on the Konkan coastline, occupied by Kohli fishermen. Until Sultan Mohammed Bagadi seized the islands, Bombay was inhabited by the Hindus. The gateway of India is the landmark of Mumbai city and most visitors commence their trip by visiting this monument. It's situated on the waterfront in the southern part of the city. The gateway is a 26 meter high arch and is made up of yellow basalt and reinforced concrete. Behind the gateway there are steps leading into the sea, where motorboats sit waiting to take visitors on a ride to elephant islands. The Elephanta Caves are a great tourist attraction in the vicinity of the large Mumbai metropolis. Elephanta Island is located 10 kilometers away from the gateway of India. The jetty is about 400 meters away from the island and they're connected by a bridge. From the boat landing stage on the island, a walkway leads to steps that go up to the famous caves. Front Bay is the official name of the harbour, so named because Mumbai started as a tiny settlement facing the harbour. The body of water behind the original settlement, forming an arc between the former islands of Colaba and Bombay Island, up to the Malabar hill promontory or peninsula, was similarly called Back Bay. There are also stalls to buy food and drinks. The island is thickly wooded with palm, mango and tamarind trees. The island has a population of about 1,200, involved in growing rice, fishing and repairing boats. Fishing boats moor at Elephanta Island. There are three small villages on the island and tourism to the caves and fishing are the main sources of livelihood for the villagers. There's a mini toy train which takes passengers from the jetty to the island. The Deccan Traps, one of the earth's largest igneous provinces, cover over 500,000 square kilometres of west central India. Erupted about 66 million years ago during the extinction of the dinosaurs, these flood basalts, in cooperation with the sea, rains and rivers, have shaped the landscape of west central India. The famous Elephanta Caves constitute one of the most striking collections of rock art in India. The cave consists of a square plan mandapa, whose sides measure about 27 metres. The interior is divided up into smaller areas by rows of supports. The whole shape carefully imitates a building. Faults profiled beams have been carved in the roof of the cave and the supports, which are complex structures, combine from bottom to top the shapes of the pillars, columns and capitals found in bonded stone architecture. The rock-cut architecture of the caves has been identified as belonging to the period between the 5th and 8th centuries, although the identity of the original builders is a subject of debate. The main cave, Cave 1, or the Great Cave, was a Hindu place of worship until Portuguese rule. At the very entrance to the cave, to the north of an esplanade reached by a steep flight of steps, the pilgrim or visitor to this high place of Shivaism is greeted by two large carved panels. In a chapel on the right of the entrance stands the cylindrical lingam, symbol of the supreme being and principle of all energy. On each wall of the mandapa, enormous high reliefs present further pictures of Shiva. The 15 large reliefs surrounding the lingam chapel in the main elephanta cave not only constitute one of the greatest examples of Indian art, but also one of the most important collections for the cult of Shiva. Opposite the entrance on the south wall is the famous and unforgettable three-headed bust of the Mahadeva. The chapel has four doors, each flanked by colossal figures of Varapala, those mediator guardians, whose task it was to admit the faithful and keep out ill-intentioned visitors. There are two groups of caves. To the east, Stupa Hill, thus named because of a small brick Buddhist monument at the top, contains two caves, one of which is unfinished, and several cisterns. To the west, the larger group consists of five rock-cut Hindu shrines. The main cave is universally famous for its carvings to the glory of Shiva, who is exalted in various forms and actions. The Maheshamurti cave, the main cave, comprises a main chamber, two lateral ones, courtyards and additional shrines. Hewn from solid rock, Elephanta caves are adorned from inch to inch with beautiful reliefs and sculptures. The carved walls of the temple portray the scenes from the Indian mythology. In fact, the entire temple is said to have been erected by removing a rock itself. The island, known as Garapuri, or the Fort Town, was christened Elephanta by the Portuguese, who captured it from the Sultan of Gujarat in 1535 AD. They named it after its huge sculpted elephant, but treated it with scant concern, turning the pillared mandapa into a shooting gallery and letting the famous elephant fall to pieces. The British, who annexed the island in the 1770s, had the broken figure removed to the Victoria Gardens, adjoining the Victorian Albert Museum in Bakula in Mumbai. The cave temple, situated some 75 meters above jetty level, closely follows the pattern of the Dhumalina cave in Ellora. One likely creator of the caves are the Konkan Mauryas, a breakaway group of the Mauryan dynasty. Elephanta by that time was called Puri or Purika and was a capital city. Thus it's possible that the caves were shaped in the middle of the 6th century by Mauryas. This is doubted by some researchers. The Mauryan state at this time didn't seem to be powerful and influential enough to create such an amazing monument. It's also possible that the caves were built by early Kalachuri kings. They were feudals to Konkan Mauryas. Both Kalachuras and Konkan Mauryas were followers of a Pasupata Shaivism sect and also the main cave temple in Elephanta is dedicated to this sect. Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was the last indigenous ruler of Elephanta Island before Mumbai and its surroundings were appropriated by the Portuguese in 1534. The Portuguese named the island Elephanta after an impressive sculpture of an elephant made in black stone. Back then this sculpture stood on the mound to the east from Garapuri village. The population on the island declined and the island became forested. After a thousand year long worship the Shiva temples in caves were abandoned as well. The only religious event which has survived to this day and is related to ancient cave temples is the festival of Shiva, Maha Shivaratri. In 1661 the island became a part of the British empire but the cave temples remained abandoned. Time did its work. Water found new paths to the cliff gradually eliminating the achievements of ancient art. After long years of neglect the great cave was renovated several times in the 20th century notably in the 1970s. Unfortunately the other caves including three caves with important sculptures are badly damaged. In 1987 Elephanta caves were declared as a UNESCO world heritage site. On the crest of the hill above the great cave there are a few other caves. There are seven temple caves. There's a small Hindu cave with a veranda which was abandoned soon after the start of construction. Pillars in front of the rooms of this cave have been preserved and sculptures of doorkeepers of the shrine are partly preserved. The cave architecture in India is believed to have begun in the 3rd century BC. These caves were used by Buddhist and Jain monks as places of worship and residence. Initially the caves were excavated in western India. Some examples of this type of cave structure are chathyas and viharas of Buddhists. The irregular chapel is supported by four eight-cornered columns and two demi-columns. Traces of sculptures remain but most of the previously rich artwork has perished. The Elephanta caves were originally painted in different colours but today only traces remain on the bare rock. The Ashokan period marked the beginning of the Buddhist school of architecture in India. It witnessed the construction of many rock-cut caves, pillars, stupas and palaces. A number of cave shrines belonging to this period have been excavated in the Barabar and Naharjuni hills and Sitamahi in Bihar. These rock-cut sanctuaries quarried from large masses of rocks called nesses, are simple in plan and are devoid of all interior decorative carvings. The caves served as the residences of the monks. Indian architecture, belonging to different periods of history, bears the stamp of respective periods. Though the cities of the Indus valley provide substantial evidence of extensive town planning, the beginnings of Indian architecture can be traced back to the advent of Buddhism in India. It was in this period that a large number of magnificent buildings came up.