Elephant...Ah!

More than a decade ago, a group of cousins had taken a trip to the Elephanta Caves. Unfortunately for them, it was the monsoon season and a sudden storm arose. Hurrying into the last ferry off the island, the group could only hope and pray that they reach home safely. After a harrowing boat ride, many tears and heartfelt prayers, they landed safe and sound at one of the ports in Mumbai. This was surely an experience that shook us all and one that I haven’t forgotten. But last week, my brother suggested we spend a Sunday at the very same Elephanta Caves and, brushing aside the memory of a stormy sea, I heard myself saying, “Why not?”

So, on the morning of Sunday, March 9^th, 2014, we left home to board a train to Churchgate Station. From there, we took a cab to the Gateway of India (Taxi fare, Rs. 27). We were on our way to the Elephanta Caves for which we first had to book our ferry tickets from one of the many booking outlets that dot the pavement. (Ferry fare, Rs. 150 per head for a return ticket)

The ferries to Elephanta leave from gate no. 4, which is right behind the gate. These ferries ply at regular intervals of 5-10 minutes with the first one leaving at 9 am. It is advisable to take the early ferries as the crowd isn’t too much then and it’s easy to find seats on the upper deck. There’s an extra charge of Rs. 10 for those wishing to sit on the upper deck. I thought that was cheap until, I heard a foreign tourist telling his companion the plastic seats were the best they could expect for 12 cents. 10 rupees for us was 12 cents for them! Wow!

Anyway, we punched our tickets, paid our ’12 cents’ each and boarded the second ferry and, having found some comfortable seats, began our ride towards Elephanta.

LOCATION

The Elephanta Caves are a network of sculpted caves located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (meaning, Place of Caves), 10 kilometres to the east of the city of Mumbai. Although there are ruins of one or two Buddhist caves & stupas here, it is said that, the island was once a Hindu place of worship until the Portuguese rule began in 1534. The Portuguese called the island Elephanta on seeing the huge statue of an Elephant at the entrance. (The Statue is now placed in the garden outside  what is today known as Jijamata Udyaan (formerly, Victoria Gardens) at Byculla in Mumbai. Historians have dated these caves as belonging to late 5^th or 8^th century. Although many of the sculptures are still clearly visible, most of them have been badly damaged and restoration work on these caves is underway.

ELEPHANTA AHOY!

Visible trails left by mudskippers

After an hour long ferry ride, sans choppy waves and madly rocking boat, we finally weighed anchor at the Elephanta Jetty. If my memory serves me right, the last time I’d visited the place, there were just a few stalls and some dusty, old caves. Things have improved since I last visited Elephanta.

(pic' ...tripadvisor)

It’s usually quite a long walk from the jetty to the caves, but MTDC has made available a mini-train service to and from the jetty. It’s a pleasant ride aboard the little, toy-train and it truly beats walking, as the return fare per person is only a mere Rs. 10. The toy-train ride is a fairly short one, but there’s enough time to click a few pictures and watch the mudskippers as they flit about on the marshy sand beside the tracks.

The train drops you off at the end of the jetty where one has to pay a Tourist Tax levied by the Gram Punchayat of Gharapuri (Rs. 10 per adult). Now begins the climb towards the caves.

There are a hundred and twenty paved steps leading to the caves. The entire pathway is lined with stalls and little restaurants on either side. These stalls mostly hawk trinkets, pearls, cheap hats and key-chains. There are also some handicraft and handloom stores, including one run by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC).

Dolis

One good thing is that the entire stairway is covered and well-shaded, thus cutting off a lot of the heat and making climbing up a little less tiring. For those who would still like to avoid the climb, there is a Doli Service available for the fee of Rs.120/-. This would mean sitting on a sturdy wooden chair while four men hoist you up on their shoulders and deposit you at the top of the hill. This is a form of livelihood for the local villagers, but, finding the entire process a little in-humane, we chose to let our own legs carry us to the top.

I do not, however, condemn those who do hire the services of these dolis. 
After all, it is just a means of earning a living for the poor locals, who, I must add, are quite ingenuous when it comes to self-employment. Once you get to the top of the stairs, just outside the MTDC booking office, there's a woman who stands with an empty pot, pretending to fill water at the tap. She stands there requesting the tourists and visitors to click a photograph with her. Visitors who indulge her are then asked for money. She asked us for Rs. 50, we gave her 10. Some gave her much more, others gave nothing. But from the little I saw while waiting for my ticket, she seemed to be doing good business.



THE CAVES

Once you get to the top, the shade and the calls of the vendors ceases and you have to head to the small MTDC booking office to purchase an entry ticket to visit the caves. The charge is Rs. 10 for Indian visitors and Rs.250 for foreign tourists. At first glance, this would seem like a huge price difference, but then I remembered the '12 cents' aboard the ferry and realized that given the exchange rate and the fairly low value of the Indian Rupee, Rs. 120 is still a very nominal price to pay.

There are 5 rock-cut caves on Elephanta, one of which lies unfinished by the original builders. These caves served as shrines to Lord Shiva, and till today, pilgrims come to visit these shrines on Mahashivratri.

The Main cave is the most elaborate and impressive of all 5 caves. It consists of a huge hall supported by six rows of columns, with six columns in each row. This pattern is broken only to house the shrine of Shiva. The noteworthy feature of these columns is the pot-shaped capitals with which they are adorned.

The shrine in the main cave has a large Shiva Lingam, guarded by a total of 8 Dwarapalas, or gatekeepers carved into solid rock.

All sculptures in the cave depict Shiva in various forms and moments. There’s Nataraja (Shiva as the Lord of the Dance), Shiva killing the demon Andhakasura, the Gangadhara Shiva (Shiva carrying the Ganges), Ardhanarishwara (Shiva & Parvati in one form) and Yogishwara (Shiva in meditation). There are also panels depicting the marriage of Shiva and Parvati (Kalyanasundara Murti) and one of Uma Maheshwara, Shiva and Parvati engaged in a game of dice.

The most impressive of all the sculptures has to be the Mahesh Murti, or the Trimurti, as it is commonly known. This Mahesh Murti depicts the three forms of Shiva.

To the right is the visibly angry expression of Shiva to represent Shiva as the destroyer. The figure on the left has a calm expression and relates to Shiva as the Preserver, and the Figure in the center depicts Shiva as the creator of the universe and life.

Other than the caves, another attraction at a walking distance of about 1km is Cannon Hill. It’s said to be a good place to get a view of the Arabian Sea that surrounds the island and is so named because of the huge cannons left behind by the Portuguese. These cannons are fixed to a large circular dais that actually rotates a complete 360 degrees, thus enabling the Portuguese to defend all sides of the island.

We were too tired to climb all the way to Cannon Hill, so stopped half way and enjoyed a refreshing glass of fresh lime soda and kokum soda at a stall along the way. As we sipped on the simple drink, we chatted with the owner of the stall and he gave us some information of the village he lived in and the two other villages that called this island home.

OTHER SNIPPETS OF INFORMATION

Most tourists spend maximum time in the main cave as there is much to see there. The other caves only sport some columns and doors carved into the rock. But the place is worth a visit and one can easily spend a leisurely morning exploring the sights the island has to offer. The place is clean, cool and infested with monkeys.

Visitors must be careful of the many monkeys that constantly bound from tree to tree. They’re harmless, but are more than ready to pounce at you and grab any tasty morsel of food that you might be carrying in your hand.

A good thing about Elephanta is that MTDC has taken great care to provide many dustbins, guards and public restrooms at frequent intervals. The restrooms are large and clean. Some of them require you to pay a small fee of Rs. 2 or Rs. 5.

It would be advisable for visitors to wear a nice, wide brimmed hat and the entire place can be quite sunny. If you don’t have one, don’t worry. Hats and caps are available in plenty at the price of Rs. 50 and Rs. 100, which is quite a good rate.

HEADING HOME

By noon, we were done with our sight-seeing and headed back to the jetty. Restaurants at Elephanta do provide a good lunch (and even some good beer), but we were keen on having our lunch at a tiny eatery called Snowflake at Marine Lines, so skipped visiting the island restaurants. All-in-all, without stormy weather and fear of death to mar the experience, visiting Elephanta makes for an interesting way to spend a Sunday morning.






Pics by Misha & Akshay