The
last time I visited Elephanta Caves was in the year 2005. We recently went to
Ajanta & Ellora Caves near Aurangabad and thought of exploring Elephanta
Caves especially since the caves were so near.
We
decided to go on a Saturday and everything just fell in place.
Location:
The Elephanta Caves are located on an island,
about 11 Kms from Gateway of India (Apollo Bunder).
Getting There:
The
most accessible way to reach Elephanta Caves is to take a 45 minutes ferry ride
from Gateway of India. Normally every half an hour a ferry leaves from Gateway
of India to Elephanta Caves. You can buy chips, wafers, mineral water and cold
drinks from the ferry at an extra cost.
 |
| Gateway of India |
A
return ticket cost Rs. 180 per person, an extra Rs 10 per person if you want to
sit on the upper deck of the ferry. Once you reach the Elephanta Jetty it is
half an hour ride to reach the caves. You can take a toy train for Rs 10 per
person for the return journey from the jetty to the feet of the caves.
The
first boat starts from the Gateway at 9:00 am and the last one back from the
Island is at 5:00 pm. The caves are closed on Monday.
Boat Ride:
The
boat ride in itself is a part of the Elephanta Caves experience. As we moved
away from the harbor we were surrounded by flocks of sea gulls hoping for a few
crumbs of food.
 |
| Sea Gulls following the ferry |
One could see the magnificent Gateway of India and the iconic The
Taj fading and enjoy the skyline of the city. You could see numerous ships and
boats of different shapes and size.
The Island:
The
name “Elephanta” came originated with the Portuguese, after they found a
massive elephant structure on the island in the 18th Century A.D. This
is now displayed at the Jijamata Gardens in Mumbai.
Once
we reached the island, there was a mad rush to take the toy train. Since it was
hot, we were busy buying mineral water and raw mangoes to taste. There are
small tuck shops selling raw mangoes, berries, star fruits, tamarind sprinkled with
chillies and salt. By the time we started to move, the toy train had already
left. We simply walked alongside the toy train route and reached the steps
leading to the caves.
 |
| Toy Train on the Island |
The
steps leading to the caves are lined on both side by shops selling jewellery, T
shirts, artifacts, trinkets, wrap around skirts etc. The shops were very well
organized and no shop keeper was after me to buy something from their shop. Due
to this it was quite fun to climb up the steps at your own pace looking at the
interesting things on display for sale.
 |
| Display at the shops |
Once
I reached the caves, I realized that the caves were very neat and clean. You
need to take a ticket to go inside the caves which is Rs. 10 for Indian and Rs
250 for foreigners.
The Main Cave:
There
are seven caves here, but the most fascinated and the only cave worth seeing is
Cave No. one. The entire cave is dedicated to Lord Shiva and it depicts Shiva
in various postures.
A
little off centre is a temple with a lingam inside. The temple has entrances on
four sides and there are eight guards at the corner of the temple.
 |
| Lingam In Cave 1 of Elephanta Cave |
Let
me take you along with me and show you some of the sculptures.
The
main and most interesting sculpture of this cave is - The Trimurti. It is named
so as it has three heads, and is thus considered to be the Trinity – Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva. A closer look at this sculpture will tell you that this is
actually the three faces of Lord Shiva himself. The central face, which is the
calm and the serene face, is the creative side of Shiva, the Creator. The right
face of the Lord (left for us) is the Destroyer, represented with a snake in
the hand and the left face is the Preserver, with a lotus in hand.
 |
| Trimurti |
Just
next to the Trimurti is beautiful sculpture depicting Lord Shiva as Ardhanareeshwara
– half man, half woman.
 |
| Ardhanareeshwara - Half man, half woman |
Shiva in the Yoga pose:
 |
| Lord Shiva in yoga pose |
The next carving depicts Ravana lifting Mount Kailash.
Unfortunately,
the lower portion of the figure is completely spoilt and we can hardly see
Ravana.
 |
| Ravana lifting Kailash |
This
is the carving which shows the marriage of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Again, this
is such a detailed carving but has been ruined.
 |
| Lord Shiva & Parvati marriage |
He
next carving shows the slaughter of demon Andhakasura.
 |
| Slaughter of Demon Andhakasura |
The
final carving in here is the very famous Nataraja.
 |
| Nataraja Posture |
Gangadhara Shiva:
 |
| Gangadhara Shiva |
On
the eastern wing of this cave, we saw another lingam and a sculpture of Lord
Shiva, Ganesh and Kartikeya.
 |
| Ganesha & Kartikeya with Lord Shiva |
We
wanted around the rest of the caves for a while, but there was nothing
interesting. We decided to head back. On the way back, we took the toy train to
go back to the ferry. The ride back was quiet and we again saw the sea gulls.
We saw the skyline of Mumbai surfacing in front of our eyes and gradually the
iconic Taj.
 |
| Gateway of India & Taj |
With
this we ended our visit to Elephanta Caves.
Points to remember:
- You can
take a ferry from The Gateway of India for Elephanta Caves. It is a 45mins
ride. The ferry ride is closed during monsoons.
- Ferry
Timing:
- Gateway to Elephanta : 9 am to 2 pm
- Elephanta to
Gateway : 12 noon to 5:30 pm
- The
cost of the ferry return ticket is Rs. 180 per person.
- Elephanta
Caves are open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. and are closed on Monday.
- Entry
Fee is Rs 10 for Indians and Rs 250 for foreigners. Free Entry below 15 years
of age.
- Beware
of monkeys.
No comments:
Post a Comment