Elephanta Caves, Mumbai, Aug/2009

During my recent visit to Mumbai (Bombay) on a business trip, I took a day off to explore the caves of Elephanta. On the day of my visit I left from Lokhandwala around 9 PM (big mistake) by taxi. It took about 2 hours before I reached downtown Mumbai - the famed gateway of India and the Taj Hotel. Tourist were swarming  because of the recent terrorist attack on the hotel. I hopped into a boat to Elephanta caves (Rs 120 round trip). there were bunch of young French tourist group in the boat. It was cloudy as pulled out of the harbor and headed north-east towards the island of Gharapuri . 

The ferry took an hour to reach the island of Gharapuri, that is how it is locally called. The Portuguese named it Elephanta because of a huge Elephant stone statue that used be at the entrance of this island. If you are not familiar with Elephanta caves, these are a collection of rock cut cave temples in an island off of Mumbai. Most of them are incomplete temples but the first and the only completed cave temple is the most marvelous one. These are temples of Shiva and the most famous of the three-headed shiva sculpture (Trimurti) is in the most handsome carving of a Hindu god I have seen so far.

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Rock Architecture in India

The concept of cutting through cliffs and hills sides to build temples and monasteries is not new around the world. India has about 1500 of such rock-cut caves out of which 1200 are located in the state of Maharashtra. Unlike stand-alone temples like Angkor Wat or other ancient Indian temples which are built by pieces of cut rocks, these rock-cut cave temples are chiseled out of existing caves or hill sides. Once finished they looked like large temples with large columns holding the roof, deities and other carvings. The most famous of Indian rock-cut cave temples are the Ajanta and Ellora caves. Which I am planning to visit in September with friends. Most of these cave temples are either Buddhist or Jain or Hindu. Fortunately, they have not been exposed any of the invading muslim armies which normally would desecrate or destroy them. The Ajanta caves remained unknown till 1800 when they discovered accidentally by a British soldier out hunting.

History of Elephanta Caves

Elephanta caves were excavated around 6th or 7th century AD when the island was capital of Konkan Maurya kingdom. This island is densely forested. It appears to have long history of ancient habitation. Ruins of Buddhist stupas were also found on this island. Along with the statue of an Elephant it is rumored to have a horse statue that was never found. An inscribed slab found on this island was  taken to Portugal by the viceroy Dom Joao de Castro in 1540 but nobody could trace it. Portuguese appropriated the Elephant island and surrounding areas from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Dom Castro found the carvings in the caves so impressive that he could not believe that it was the work of human hands and therefore it was thought to be the work of the demons (asuras). Portuguese rulers did their best to destroy them. Both the Portuguese soldiers and authorities were responsible for breaking the sculptures and defacing them. That is why you will see the lower halves of the sculptures are destroyed while the upper half are largely intact.

This is the first time I have come across Christian rulers defacing and mutilating religious symbols in India. I have come across such mutilation in Egypt by Christians who hid in the tombs of Valley of Kings while escaping the persecution of Romans. But the damage there was not as large. Here I found the statues badly damaged. I wonder how beautiful they should be had they been intact.

After Mumbai was given away to the British as part of dowry by the Portuguese, the Elephanta caves fell into the hands of the British. They did nothing to preserve till late 1800s. The famous Trimuti bust was said to be almost intact till 1865 when attempts were made to disfigure it. The king Edward VII was given a banquet in the cave in 1875. Since then attempts were made to preserve the cave. It is mentioned somewhere that the massive Elephant stone statue collapsed in 1814 and was relocated to Victoria gardens in Mumbai.

There is an excellent painting of the entrance of the cave by a British landscape artist Robert Melville Grindlay. It showed the cave in dilapitated state with broken columns. It has now been fully restored. The only thing missing in the cave are the lights. With such beautiful carvings they would be look very impressive if properly lit. I could not take any decent pictures because I didn't bring any camera stand and my flash was insufficient.

My Impressions.

After I got off the ferry, I walked for about 15 minutes or so before I reached the entrance. The first cave very impressive as it is the only one completed. It took about 3-4 hours just in this cave. The remaining six caves were incomplete but they had a beautiful look too. Some are just a hole in the rock wall, some have elaborate entrances but the interior was never completed. Many of the caves have the Siva lingas in them. When you step into one of these incomplete halls, perfectly chiseled and prepared to for the masterpiece, and you are engulfed by the silence, you feel certain awe. I wait for them to magically transform into a beautiful temple with the idols. There were very few tourists and these halls were silent. Outside the rain fell in drizzles and exterior filled with greenery of Monsoon showers. One would wonder how the artisans worked and lived in these caves about 1500 years back. What made them abandon the rest of the caves. Imagine how marvelous it would be if remaining 6 caves were made as beautiful as the first cave.

My Impressions of the first cave

The entrance to the first cave is very grand. You are greeted by large pillars chiselled out of the rock. They are perfectly aligned. The entrance faces the North. Soon after entering, the first thing that greets you is small temple containing a large Shiva Linga. Even more impressive are the large dwarapalakas standing like giants on either side of the four shiva temple entrances. They may be one of the largest carvings of divine beings that I have seen in India. Each of these are as large as the carving of Vishnu at Angkor Wat which I thought was humongous.

As you walk around there are panels of various stories of shiva chiseled like the story of Ravana lifting mount Kailash, Shiva and Parvati with their sons Ganesh and Karthikeya, etc. There are 10 such carvings including the famous Trimurti. The Trimurti is the carving of three-headed Shiva. With his eyes closed, the center figure looked so peaceful and deep in meditation. Fortunately this most beautiful and elegant piece is almost intact and one can enjoy the beauty of it.

On the eastern end of this hall there is another wing which is equally beautiful. It has no beautiful sculptures in it except a shiva linga temple but it looks beautiful from outside with a separate entrance. The perfect symmetry of the columns with a reddish glow is a nice sight to behold. There used to be a Nandi at the entrance but it is missing and only a large circle is left there.

Final thoughts

After visiting these caves, my interest in rock-cut temples has increased. I look forward to my visit to Ajanta and Ellora. It would be great to go hiking among the jungles surrounding these hills and caves, especially during the time of monsoons. There were plenty of monkeys around.  Walking through these halls in midst of monsoon rain was  beautiful experience. Once you step out of these caves you are surrounded by lush forest and monkeys. You feel like you are in a Indiana Jones movie. 

References:

• Book on Robert Melville Grindlay paintings on India
• Here is an excellent collection of sketches and engravings of Elephanta caves done by European travelers. I was amazed how dilapitated these caves were in those days. You will see that in some of those sketches many pillars were either broken or missing. 
• Another beautiful engraving from British library

Tips if you are traveling to Elephanta caves:

• Due to lack of proper lighting you need a good SLR camera to take pictures of the sculptures inside the caves.
• You need a good flash and a camera stand.
• Mumbai traffic is horrendous. Unless you are staying in Taj Hotel at Gateway of India, you will need 2+ hours to get to Gateway of India. So leave early for the boat ride.
• Do not buy any guide books once you reach the island. The one and the only good guide book is the one published by Archaeological Survey of India titled 'Elephanta'. It is part of World Heritage Series. It costs Rs 100.
• Tip the security guards (Rs 10-25/person). They don't make much salary but they are guarding some of the world's treasure.
• Do not take the services of local guides. They are not qualified nor knowledgeable. If you want to help them take the tour. I saw a well qualified guide who came from Mumbai with a foreign tourist. She was good. So try to find one in Mumbai.