"The Elephanta Caves Really Rock!!! " a Elephanta Island Travel Page by aadil

The Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are one of the two sites in Mumbai city, the second one being the erstwhile VT or Victoria Terminus Building now rechristened the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus after the warrior king of Maharashtra State. This island is hardly an hour's boat ride from the Apollo Bunder (ferry port) with same day return tickets (you cannot stay overnight on the island) for luxury (Rs110) and semi luxury (Rs100) boats (motor launches) available from the ticket counters near the Gateway of India and it is near the mainland towards the east of the island city of Mumbai. There is not much else to see except the caves built roughly inbetween 600 - 635 A.D. Actually these are not caves but the whole structure has been hewn out of one single piece of rock from the mountainside and using just hand tools and not having any machine tools in that period speaks for itself about the master craftsmen. These caves are dedicated to Lord Shiva the deity who is known as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe. The central 'trimurti' (triheaded) sculpture which is the most famous of all the sculptures on this island as it is also the best preserved of the lot as it was detected only later on and not damaged by the Portuguese soldiers as were the rest of the sculptures which now do not have many faces, hands and feet thanks to their target practice using firearms!!!