Visit to Elephanta

On Tuesday I went to Elephanta Island. The caves on this island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, feature many 7-10^th century rock carvings of Shiva in various forms. I am amazed that I only ventured to the island now, despite living in Bombay all these years. Guess when one knows a place will be home for a considerable period of time, visiting the touristy places is not a priority. Haji Ali remains and I hope to tick it this year.

One reaches Elephanta by a ferry from the Gateway of India. I was really surprised that it takes about an hour and a half to reach the island. On the way, the entire eastern seaboard of Bombay comes into view. As compared to the western coast, which is lined with posh residential or commercial high-rises and lovely beaches, the eastern sea face presents a much more varied face. Many ships and cranes come into view soon after the Gateway – a reminder that Bombay remains one of India’s largest and busiest ports. Later one can view the tall chimney of what is presumably BPCL’s oil refinery near Chembur. Also visible is a white dome surrounded by green hills – BARC’s atomic facility, I think. The residential colonies are ubiquitous of course.

The island itself is very small. The cave temples are located on top of a little hillock (100-150 m high max). The carvings are huge, but quite badly damaged. Nevertheless, some are quite beautiful. I did not know that Shiva is depicted and worshipped in so many different forms, including feminine forms (Kamadeva, I think) and an androgynous form. But on the whole, I was not terribly impressed with the caves.

The views are a different matter. Bombay looks lovely from afar – especially the sky scrapers of the south. I took a snap of the city’s Bombay Central area, in which the sea is visible on both sides of the land. I love it!

On the other side, I could see the greener and less constructed New Bombay area (a friend who stays in Vashi told me later that I was looking at Uran). I don’t know if the proposed Nhava-Sewri bridge (connecting Bombay to New Bombay) will stand to the south of Elephanta or north, but either way, if it ever comes into being, the sight will be stunning.