Elephanta Caves: The Rock-cut Temple dedicated to Shiva
The name Elephanta brings back a lot of memories from different years of life. I remember visiting it as a picnic spot with my family when I was a school kid some twenty odd years ago. The Island is located about 10 km off the coast of Mumbai and is accessible by ferries and launches during the day; these can be boarded from the Gateway of India. It roughly takes an hour-long boat ride to get there. After alighting on the pier, there is an option of boarding a toy train which drops the tourists upto the foothill from where the ascent to the island begins. Imagine my excitement as a kid - traveling by a boat and a toy train the same day! Yes, that was the highlight of my first trip to Elephanta.
As a grown up I have come to appreciate it for what it is though - a magnificent abode of the Sadashiva (more context in the later section). So like me, are you also wondering why is it called Elephanta Island and curious if you might find elephants there? Well, only if you visited it in the 16th century with some Portuguese navigators, who found a large elephant sculpture on the entrance point of the island. Yes, they saw an elephant statue and decided to call the place ‘Ilha Elefante’ (Elephant Island). Present day, the said sculpture adorns the environs of Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Byculla - in Mumbai. Prior to being renamed, it was (is still) locally called Gharapuri, on account of a small village on the southern tip of the island. Interestingly, Gharapuri is identified as the ancient Puri or Sripuri - a capital of the Konkan Mauryas who ruled the region in the 6-7th centuries CE.
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| The elephant sculpture that led to the name of the island. (Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephanta_Elephant.jpg) |
The antiquity of the island can be traced at least as far back as the second century BCE from the remains of a Buddhist stupa of that time. The island also seemed to have a fortification wall at some point and it is thought that the place must have been occupied till about 10th - 11th centuries CE. This is largely owing to the presence of medieval monuments called the hero stones. Hero stones (also called Virgals) are commonly found in the form of stone steles throughout India. These were erected to commemorate the death of warriors during battles. The cave temples here - which are the subject of this article, are generally agreed to date back to the mid-6th c. CE based on stylistic evolution.
The rock-cut cave temple is one of the finest architectural grandeurs in India and was declared the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the year 1987. Rock-cut architecture, as the term implies, is a creation of structure by carving into the rocks where they naturally occur. India has such a diversity of rock-cut architecture ranging from the Hindu temples to the Buddhist and the Jaina caves, spread throughout the country. There are a total of seven rock-cut caves at Elephanta. Of these, only one is profusely carved. The rest of the caves are rather plain and few are even unfinished.
The Cave no. 1 at Elephanta is the chief attraction of the site and rightly so. It is roughly rectangular in form with the longer axis aligned east-west, the main entrance to which faces north towards the sea and the southern wall is where the famous sculpture of Shiva is carved. The shrine of the temple is in the western half of this hall. The sanctum houses a Shiva linga on a square platform. The walls of the hall are adorned with sculptures of Shiva in various forms - telling many mythological stories. My personal favorites are the Maheshamurti, the Ardhanarishwara, the Kalyana-sundara-murti and the Nataraja Shiva.
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| The Maheshamurti |
Here is a much better quality image taken from the internet:
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| (Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trimurti,_Cave_No._1,_Elephanta_Caves_-_1.jpg) |
I still remember seeing the Maheshamurti for the first time in my adult years. It would be fair to say that I was completely awestruck and just stood in front of the sculpture - trying to comprehend the sight before me, for quite a length of time. It still remains one of my most loved depictions of Shiva. Also variously referred to as the Sadashiva, or the Mahadeva and often mistakenly also called the Trimurti (of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the sculpture is a three-headed bust of Shiva. It is carved on a 1 m high platform and the image itself measures about 5.45 m. Of the three, the central head of the deity is a representation of the Tatpurusha, it captures a serenity in the expression of the face - with eyes half closed as if in a meditative state. He represents the creator. The right head of the deity represents Aghora or Bhairava, the destroyer form of Shiva, owing to attributes such as the skull adorning the crown and the cobra coiled around the neck with a raised hood. The left head of the deity represents Vamadeva, the preserver of the universe. All the three depictions are ornately carved and contain elements such as crowns, earrings, necklaces and pendants. Although there is a certain degree of damage in the sculpture due to past vandalism, one feels mesmerized by the sheer scale of it.
Here are stories from some of the panels carved in Cave no. 1 at Elephanta.
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| The Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva (Photo credit: https://elephanta.co.in/ardhanarishvara-at-elephanta) |
As the name suggests, this panel depicts the half male and half female form of the deity. The story behind this depiction is that once upon a time when Shiva-Parvati were seated on the Kailasa, a great many sages came to pay their respects. But there was one sage Bhrigu, who did not accompany the others. He had vowed to not bow before anyone else apart from Shiva. This caused great anger to Parvati, who then performed a penance to merge herself with Shiva’s body. Her wish is granted at once and she becomes a part of Shiva - this is how the Ardhanarishvara form comes to be. Witnessing this, sage Bhrigu goes on to take the form of a beetle. He then pierces a hole through Shiva’s body and completes a circumambulation around the male form only. Parvati is surprised to see this and at last admires the sage’s dedication. Although the lower portion of the sculpture is damaged, one is compelled to appreciate the beautiful representation of Shiva’s Ardhanarishvara form here at Elephanta.
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| Shiva slaying the demon Andhaka (Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephanta,_grotta_1,_rilievi_riferibili_al_400-550_dc_ca.,_Shiva_che_uccide_Andhaka_01.jpg) |
In the above panel, Shiva is depicted in the Nataraja form. Here, he is the Lord of Dance, also referred to as the Cosmic Dancer. The sculpture shows Shiva in a posture recognised as the ‘tribhanga’ - a position with three bends in the body at the neck, waist and the knees.
Interestingly, if you were to visit the Ellora Cave no. 29 (popularly known as Dumar Lena) in Aurangabad, you would be pleasantly surprised to see an identically carved hall with similar sculptural panels as at Cave no. 1 at Elephanta, except for the Maheshamurti. According to the scholars, the cave at Ellora was carved later than Elephanta. Having seen both of these sites, I personally believe the cave at Elephanta is more splendid, although I do believe Ellora to be equally magnificent - but in the carvings of other caves such as the Kailasa and the Buddhist caves.
If you’ve not been to Elephanta yet, I recommend this Google Arts & Culture link tour to get a glimpse:
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/elephanta-caves/m020rb5?categoryId=place
In case you're planning a visit:
In writing this piece, I am left wanting to visit Elephanta yet again - perhaps on my next visit home! I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Cheers!
- B.
Reference:
This write up is based on the Elephanta Guidebook written by M. K. Dhavalikar & published by the ASI.
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