Visiting Elephanta Caves
After about two months of boredom and an eager urge to
travel, we took a couple of days leave, hopped onto a small cute ferry and
began our journey from the Gate of Mumbai to an island called Elephanta Island
or Gharapuri.
This spectacular island located on an Arm of Arabian Sea is
a home to beautiful caves called Elephanta Caves, the caves which are assumed
be built between 5th to 8th century and by whom…., well
that’s still a mystery.
With winds gushing our mind , our hearts filled with known
and some unknown sequence of events that was about to take place, the splendid
views of the mountains our journey from the Gate Way of India and Taj Mahal Palace Hotel to this enchanted
Island left us completely spellbound.
The beautiful Taj Mahal palace hotel as seen from our ferry.
Stunning unforgettable views of the mountains, with huge ships passing besides us and just sitting and relaxing in the ferry had its own charm,aura
and subtle emanation.
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| Enjoying our sweet leisure time clicking pictures. |
When we reached Elephanta we knew that the real fun was just
about to begin and what we experienced in this ferry was only a vignette of our
trip.
As soon as we reached this enigmatic island, a beautiful toy
train took us to spectacular network of caves which are beautifully sculpted
and are mostly of Lord Shiva and Parvathi.
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Amazing views offered while visiting in the toy train.
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The first main cave also called Shiva cave had many
different idols of Lord Shiva and Parvathi which unfortunately was damaged by
Portuguese who ruled at that time.
The Portuguese named this island as Elephanta island as
there was a huge statue of elephant that was then installed on a mound, a short
distance east of Gharapuri village. This sculpture is installed at Jijamata
Udyaan zoo in Mumbai.
There are total 5 Hindu Caves of which the first and the
second cave are the star attractions of the elephanta caves.
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| The beautiful image of three headed lord Shiva. |
A perfect paradise for historians, much lies in the history
of these caves that still needs to be discovered and known.
During pre- historic medieval ages these caves seemed to be
a perfect abode for all the saints because of the peace, calmness and serenity
that it offered.
There were many different designated places inside these
cave’s where the sadhus ,the holy men would spend hours meditating and
worshipping.
You could even have a hands on experience of doing
devotional worship to the God inside these caves. -;)
There many different carvings inside these caves such as Ravana
lifting mount Kailash, Shiva-Parvati on Kailash, wedding of Shiva etc.
As you climb upwards from the caves there are many different points from where the Portugese used to have a look on its different foes and where we found this huge cannon.
When you see these sculptures and the surrounding
environment you might get lost in an era when these sculptures were built.
But don’t worry you will immediately return to your original
state when you leave these caves, caves whose origin and construction is still
a mystery.
Follow the link to know more about this WORLD HERITAGE site.
Some more details.
After we returned from Island we spent a quality time near
the Gate Way and Hotel Taj Mahal Palace feeding birds and clicking and photos
and hearing nice symphonies played by a musician.
The elephanta caves are closed on Mondays
and the first boat for Elephanta leaves Gateway of India ferry
point at 9 am. The first return boat leaves from Elephanta island at 12
noon and the last return boat leaves at 5.30pm from Elephanta.
Just make sure that you don't miss the last boat otherwise you will have to stay on the island till the next day -;)
So these caves comes in the list of "Top places to visit in Mumbai"
Do visit these caves if you happen to visit Mumbai, till then keep Monkeying around and stay in touch.
From cupidtravellers
Dipika &
DevD.
A couple of cupids exploring the wonderful hidden places of the world.
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