Wandering Destination : Elephanta Caves
Elephant caves alias Gharapurichi Leni - are located near Mumbai. It is the first is a large group of five Hindu caves dedicated to lord Shiva, the second, a smaller group of two Buddhist caves. Caves carved in Besalt rock dates back to somewhere between 5th to 8th century. It was designated UNESCO heritage site and now maintained by ASI.
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Main cave : Shiva Cave. It is the largest among all whose roof is supported by rock columns |
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Each wall of main cave has large carvings of Shiva. The famous Trimurti is located on the south wall. |
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Main cave shine of Lord Shiva |
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The other caves ahead of main cave |
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Some caves are unfinished, some got destroyed |
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Lots of monkeys re found the on the island. As happens everywhere, monkeys snatch food items from the hands of travelers and enjoy themselves. |
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Just after the last cave, a nature trail goes ahead to the top of the Island. Hardly visitors take this path. Don't miss this, go ahead to see the beauty of the surroundings.
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Left of this trek you can see Elephanta Dam |
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Canon trek: Most of the path is build with concrete, thus walking is easy |
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Beginning of summer - trees shade their leaves. |
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Canon Point: A historical canon installed by Portuguese is preserved. Many Hindi movies from early 90's are shot here, as I was told. |
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Tata power plant located in Uran. Bay of Uran is famous for Bird watching, especially Greater Flamingos. |
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JNP seaport on Nhava Sheva Island. Sea in this part of Arabian sea is very busy due to Naval HQ at Gate way of India, private yachts, tourists for Elephanta, and a lot of good transport ships. On the travel to Elephanta from Gate way one can capture the variety of ships. Check my earlier posts about "Ship watch at Gateway" |
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The skyline of the great Mumbai seen from the top |
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Idols of Hindu god and goddesses for sale. Bids and other jewelry is also available at the shops near the entrance to the caves. I found it costlier than at the main land, advice not to buy. |
Entrance fee:
- Citizen of South Asian countries : 10/-
- Other countries: 250 /-
- Children below 15 years : free
Timing
- Open from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.
- Closed on Monday
How to reach
Elephanta Island is located near the Appolo Bandar (ner Gateway of India) and can be reached by a ferry boat from Gate way of India in less than half an hour. On the way you can
shoot some outstanding variety of ships anchored.
we used to go there so often for day long picnics... am feeling nostalgic now :-)
ReplyDeleteGood read. I been there.
ReplyDeleteThe pics are tempting me to Visit Elephanta Caves now !! Gr8 post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful coverage of the place.
ReplyDeleteSimply Superb! Would love visit sometime!
ReplyDeleteVery informative post with some nice pictures! Would like to visit there someday.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
My latest post: Survey of Indian Mathematics over the Ages
Ohh, the Cannon point image is too classic and awesome, and a nice and catchy post from your end, good work.
ReplyDeleteYou can even read interesting stuffs about Elephanta at Elephanta cave- UNESCO glory