Elephanta Island and Caves

Back to Bombay – Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji railway terminus

When we arrived in Mumbai in the late afternoon, after another long, uncomfortable overnight train ride, I felt relieved and also slightly sentimental that we had finished our last railway journey in India.

This time around we had no problems getting on the stupendously overcrowded suburban commuter trains that had taken us 3 goes to pluck up the courage to fight and squeeze our way onto the first time.

Mumbai’s trains are seriously over crowded

We easily navigated our way back through the grand UNESCO listed architecture of the Chhatrapti Shivaji Station, through the streets of Colaba to our favoured Cafe Universal and then successfully negotiated a reasonably priced taxi and wound our way through the hawkers around the Gateway of India with considerably more ease than on that first overwhelming day!

The imposing Gateway of India

After taking in the colonial architecture, frenetic atmosphere and visiting Dharavi slums on our first visit to Mumbai, our last day in India was spent visiting the Elephanta Caves that are situated on an island in Mumbai harbour about 10 kms away from the city.

From the Gateway of India we jumped on one of the many boats and watched as the iconic views of the Apollo Bunder – including the Gateway of India, the Taj hotel, the Mumbai skyline and docks faded into view till all around us was fresh sea breeze.

View of the Apollo Bunder and the Gateway of India as the boat leaves the harbour headed for Elephanta Island

As the wooden boat passed large freighters and fishing boats,  Indian families dressed in their best elaborate sarees passed the time on the boat by throwing crisps into the air to feed the seagulls who swooped over the open topped boat. 

Beautiful sarees provide a splash of colour

The name Elephanta island comes from the gigantic Elephant statue that the Portuguese found at the entrance to the island but this has now been moved to the Victoria Gardens (now called jijamata Udyan) in Mumbai. 

Boats jostle for position at the jetty for Elephanta Island

After over an hour the boat docked at the small, forested Elephanta Island. By clambering through a few more similar wooden tourist boats moored up together we reached the long jetty where hawkers in small stick shacks touted snacks, books containing stories of the various gods and  flowers for offerings.

A little stall on the jetty of Elephanta Island

A miniature train ran noisily on narrow tracks along the jetty until we reached the start of the steep steps that lead up to the caves. We climbed quickly through this gauntlet of steps that were lined with tourist stalls all clamouring for our attention and selling all kinds of tacky souvenirs. 

When we emerged at the top and we took in the views and fresh air with some monkeys who had managed to learn how to remove the tops off plastic bottles and were enjoying a drink stolen from a tourist. 

Clever, cheeky monkeys

The Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO world heritage site consisting of two networks of caves carved into rock temples, a smaller Buddhist group of caves and a larger group of 5 caves, cut from rocky hillsides facing the sea, that contain impressive rock cut sculptures representing the Hindu god Shiva.

The caves are temples cut out from a rocky hillside

The date and attribution of the caves is unknown but the rock cut architecture is thought to be dated between the 5^th and 8^th centuries. The identity of the creators of the caves and sculptures is not known for sure, but local tradition says that the caves are not man made but created by Pandava, the demon devotee of Shiva.

The most complete and impressive of the caves features large carvings over 5 meters tall of Shiva, Parvati and other deities depicting various legends and stories of Shiva.

Inside the caves are rock cut sculptures depicting many Hindu deities

The cave temple has several halls, wings and shrines all excavated from rock and held up with massive stone pillars and large sculptures of guardians.

Guardians over 5 meters high have been sculpted out of the rock

The most significant sculpture is a central relief of the ‘Trimurti’ which is over 6 meters high and depicts a three-headed Shiva. The three different faces represents the three qualities of Shiva – creation, protection and destruction.

The Trimurti – the three heads of Shiva

All the caves and sculptures were painted in the past but now only traces remain and the sculptures themselves are faded and worn, which is not surprising given their estimated age, but many carvings are so damaged it is difficult to envisage.

It’s just incredible to think that so long ago people managed the amazingly difficult task of cutting these caves, temples and carvings out of solid basalt rock and that the deities they represent are still relevant and worshiped today as you can tell from the offerings that people have left on some statues.

Despite the worn and damaged state of some of the sculptures they are still worshipped today as you can see from the offerings that have been left

As the boat rocked and swayed over the sea the hazy skyline of Mumbai slowly came ever closer into view. The sun set hastily, giving the hazy outline of Mumbai’s skyscrapers and shacks a deep amber glow. As the familiar shape of the Gateway of India came back into view the Indian sun lowered behind the outline of the Taj hotel bringing a hazy, magical, amber glow to our final moments in India.

The sun set on our Indian adventures as the boat headed back into Mumbai

As we stepped ashore it was with relief but also sadness that we made our way to the airport and the end of our first Indian adventure, that I already knew would not be our last!

Related articles

• The Elephanta Caves (aiesecdu.wordpress.com)
• Elephanta Island (seeloveremember.wordpress.com)
• Elephanta Island: No elephants but plenty of monkeys (myworldwanderings.wordpress.com)
• ” A day trip to Elephanta Island” (driftvoyages.wordpress.com)