Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta Caves form a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva; UNESCO has designated them as a World Heritage Site. They are located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally meaning "the city of the caves"),

The Elephanta Caves contain rock-cut stone sculptures, mostly in high relief, that show a syncretism of Hindu—Buddhist ideas and iconography. The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock. Apart from a few exceptions, much of the artwork has been defaced and damaged.

These date to the between the 5th and 9th centuries CE, and scholars attribute them to various Hindu dynasties.

They were named Elefante—which morphed to "Elephanta"—by the colonial Portuguese who found elephant statues in the caves. The Portuguese established a base on the island. The main cave (Cave 1, or the Great Cave) was a Hindu place of worship until the Portuguese arrived, whereupon the island ceased to be an active place of worship.

Geography

Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, is about east of the Gateway of India in the Mumbai Harbour, and less than west of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The island covers about at high tide, and about at low tide. The island has volcanic origins and was formed during an eruptive sequence of the Deccan Traps volcanic province during the latest Cretaceous or earliest Paleocene (66 to 65 million years ago). Gharapuri is a small village on the south side of the island. The Elephanta Caves are connected by ferry services from the Gateway of India, Mumbai, between 9 a.m. and 2 a.m. daily, except Monday, when the Caves are closed. Mumbai has a major domestic and international airport, as well as being connected to the Indian Railways.

The island is in length with two hills that rise to a height of about . A narrow, deep ravine separates the two hills and runs from north to south. On the west, the hill rises gently from the sea and stretches east across the ravine and rises gradually to the extreme east to a height of . Forest growth, with clusters of mango, tamarind, and karanj trees cover the hills with scattered palm trees. The foreshore is made up of sand and mud with mangrove bushes on the fringe. Landing quays sit near three small hamlets known as Set Bunder in the north-west, Mora Bunder in the northeast, and Gharapuri or Raj Bunder in the south. The Elephanta island is a protected monument area as per the requirements of UNESCO. A notification was issued by the Government of India in 1985 declaring a buffer zone that outlines "a prohibited area" that stretches from the shoreline.

Description

thumb|upright=1.5|Overview of Elephanta Caves site

The island has two groups of rock-cut caves, hewn from solid basalt rock. The larger group of caves, which consists of five caves on the western hill of the island, is well-known for its Hindu sculptures. The primary cave, numbered as Cave 1, is about up a hillside, facing the Mumbai harbour. Caves 2 through 5 are next to Cave 1 further southeast, arranged in a row. Cave 6 and 7 are about northeast of Cave 1 and 2, but geologically on the edge of the eastern hill.

Cave 1: Main, Great Cave

The main cave, also called Cave 1, Grand Cave, or the Great Cave, is square in plan with a hall (mandapa). The Cave has several entrances, the main entrance is unassumingly small and hides the grand hall inside. The main entrance faces north, while two side entrances face east and west. The cave's main entrance is aligned with the north–south axis, unusual for a Shiva shrine (normally east–west).

thumb|Shiva linga in Elephanta Cave at west side

Layout:

1. Ravananugraha

2. Shiva-Parvati, Mount Kailash

3. Ardhanarishvara

4. Sadashiva Trimurti

5. Gangadhara

6. Wedding of Shiva

7. Shiva slaying Andhaka

8. Nataraja

9. Yogishvara

16. Linga

East Wing Shrine

10. Kartikeya

11. Matrikas

12. Ganesha

13. Dvarapala

West Wing Shrine

14. Yogishvara

15. Nataraja

To reach the main cave, a visitor or pilgrim has to walk up 120 steep steps from the ticket counter, which can be reached from the pier/beach by walking on a footpath or by taking the tourist toy train. At the main entrance are four pillars, with three open porticoes and an aisle at the back. Pillars, six in each row, divide the hall into a series of smaller chambers. The roof of the hall has concealed beams supported by stone columns joined together by capitals.

The northern entrance to the cave is flanked by two panels of Shiva dated to the Gupta period, both damaged. The left panel depicts Yogishvara (Shiva as the Lord of Yoga) and the right shows Nataraja (Shiva as the Lord of Dance). The Sadashiva is flanked by two large friezes, one of Ardhanarishvara and the other of Gangadhara.

Each wall has large carvings of Shiva-related legends, each more than in height. The central Shiva relief Trimurti is located on the south wall opposite the main entrance. Also called the Sadashiva, it is the iconic form of a pancamukha linga is set in a mandala pattern with the abstract linga form of Shiva.

Smaller shrines are located at the east and west ends of the caves. The eastern sanctuary serves as a ceremonial entrance, and its shrine shows iconography of Shaktism tradition.

The three heads represent three essential aspects of Shiva: creation, protection, and destruction. The right half-face (west face) shows him holding a lotus bud, depicting the promise of life and creativity. This face is symbolism for Brahma, the creator or Uma or Vamadeva, the feminine side of Shiva and creator.

Gangadhara

thumb|upright|Shiva bringing Ganges River to earth.

The Trimurti Shiva is flanked on its left by Ardhanarisvara (a half-Shiva, half-Parvati composite) and Gangadhara legend to its right. The Gangadhara image to the right of the Trimurti shows Shiva and Parvati standing. Shiva brings the Ganges River down from the heavens and her immense power is contained effortlessly in Shiva's hair as she descends from heaven. The artists carved a small three bodied goddess up high, a symbolism for Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati. The mother goddess Parvati stands tall next to Shiva, smiling. The carving is wide and high.

The Gangadhara image is highly damaged, particularly the lower half of Shiva seen seated with Parvati, who is shown with four arms, two of which are broken. From the crown, a cup with a triple-headed female figure (with broken arms) to depict the three major rivers in Hindu texts. An alternative interpretation of the three-bodied goddess in Gangadharamurti panel here and elsewhere is that it represents the regenerative powers of rivers in the form of Mandakini, Suradhani and Bhagavati.

Wrapped on one of the arms of Shiva is his iconic coiling serpent whose hood is seen near his left shoulder. Another hand (partly broken) gives the semblance of Shiva hugging Parvati, with a head of matted hair. A damaged ornamented drapery covers his lower torso, below the waist. Parvati is carved to the left of Shiva with a coiffured hair dress, fully bedecked with ornaments and jewellery. It is represented as half woman shown as half of Parvati in this Elephanta panel on the right side, with breast, waist, feminine hair and items such as a mirror in the upper hand. The second half-man side is Shiva with male characteristics and items iconographically his symbol. In Shaivism, the concept pictorially symbolises the transcendence of all duality including gender, with the spiritual lacking any distinctions, where energy and power (Shakti, Parvati) is unified and is inseparable with the soul and awareness (Brahman, Shiva).

In the panel, the relief shows a headdress (double-folded) with two pleats draped towards the female head (Parvati) and the right side (Shiva) depicting curled hair and a crescent. The female figure has all the ornamentation (broad armlets and long bracelets, a large ring in the ear, jewelled rings on the fingers) but the right male figure has drooping hair, armlets and wristlets. One of his hands rests on Nandi bull's left horn, Shiva's mount, which is fairly well preserved. The pair of hands at the back is also bejewelled; the right hand of the male side holds a serpent, while the left hand of the female side holds a mirror. The front left hand is broken, while a large part of the lower half of the panel was damaged at some point. Around the Ardhanarishwara are three layers of symbolic characters. The lowest or at the same level as the viewer are human figures oriented reverentially towards the androgyne image. Above them are gods and goddesses such as Brahma, Vishnu, Indra and others who are seated on their vahanas. Above them are flying apsaras approaching the fused divinity with garlands, music, and celebratory offerings.

Shiva slaying Andhaka

thumb|left|upright|Shiva slaying Andhaka

The panel in the northwest side of the cave, on the wall near west entrance and the Linga shrine (see 7 in plan), is an uncommon sculpture about the Andhakasura-vadha legend. It shows Bhairava, or Virabhadra, a ferocious form of Shiva killing the demon Andhaka (literally, "blind, darkness"). The relief is much ruined below the waist, is high and posed in action. Though a relief, it is carved to give it a three-dimensional form, as if the ferocious Shiva is coming out of the rocks and impaling Andhaka with his trident.

Bhairava's headgear has a ruff on the back, a skull, and a cobra over the forehead, and the crescent high on the right. His facial expression is of anger, the conviction of something he must do, and one in the middle of the action. The legs and five of the eight arms are broken, attributed to Portuguese vandalism. The smaller broken image Andhaka is seen below Bhairava's image. Furthermore, the artwork shows ruined parts of a male and two female forms, figures of two ascetics, a small figure in front, a female figure, and two dwarfs. Their dress reflect the Hindu customs. He wears the sacred thread across his chest, she the customary jewellery. The other characters shown in the wedding carry items or are shown holding items that typically grace a Hindu wedding. Chandra (moon god), for example, holds a traditionally decorated water vessel (kalash). Brahma, the priest, is squatting on the floor to the right tending the yajna fire (agni mandapa).

The relief is in a dilapidated condition with most of the arms and legs broken.

In some ways, the yogi artwork shown in this Hindu cave are similar to those found in Buddhist caves, but there are differences. Yogi Shiva, or Lakulisa, wears a crown here, his chest is shown vaulting forward as if in breathing exercises found in Hindu yoga texts, the face and body expresses different energy. This Shiva yogi comes across as the "lord of the caves" or Guhesvara in medieval Indian poetry, states Kramrisch.

Nataraja: Lord of Dance

thumb|Shiva as Nataraja, god of dance.

The panel facing the Yogishvara, on the west side of the portico next to the north entrance (see 8 on plan) is Shiva as the Nataraja, "cosmic dancer" and "the lord of dancers". This is an eight-armed depiction of Nataraja. The parts of the panel that have survived suggest that he is holding an axe, a coiled serpent is wrapped around its top. In another he holds a folded cloth, possibly symbolic veil of maya. The dancer and destroyer aspects of Shiva are clustered in the northwest part of the cave, in contrast to yoga and creator aspects that are found in the northeast parts. This 6th-century Nataraja shares architectural elements with those found in temples in the western parts of South Asia such as in Gujarat, and in upper Deccan region.

Mount Kailash and Ravananugraha

The carvings at the east entrance are battered and blurry. One in the southeast corner of the mandapa (see 2 on plan) depicts Shiva and Parvati in Mount Kailash in the Himalayas, and the shows the Umamaheshvara story. There are traces of a crown and a disc behind Shiva, but it is all damaged.

The panel facing the Mount Kailash panel towards the northeast corner (see 1 on plan) depicts demon king Ravana trying to lift Kailash and bother Shiva, a legend called Ravananugraha. The upper scene is Mount Kailash, where Shiva and Parvati are seated. Shiva is recognisable with a crown, and other characters are badly damaged. A portion of ascetic skeletal devotee Bhringi relief survives, and he is seated near Shiva's feet. Near Shiva an outline of what may have been Ganesha and Kartikeya are visible. Below the mountain surface is shown the demon-king Ravana is seen with a few arms, trying to unsuccessfully shake Shiva and Parvati in Mount Kailash. The rest of the details are blurry and speculative.

Linga shrine

The central shrine of the Great Cave temple is a free-standing square stone cella, with entrances on each of its sides. Each door is flanked by two dvarapalas (gate guardians), for a total of eight around the shrine.

East wing: Shaktism

thumb|The smaller east shrine.

On the east side of the main hall is a separate shrine. It is a -wide courtyard with a circular pedestal. It once had a seated Nandi facing the Linga shrine, but its ruins have not been restored. To the south side of this eastern courtyard is the Shaktism shrine, with a lion, each seated with a raised forepaw as guardian. Inside the west face of this small shrine (see 10–12 of plan) are Sapta Matrikas, or the "seven mothers" along with Parvati, Kartikeya (Skanda) and Ganesha. According to Sara L. Schastok, the Skanda in the east shrine of Elephanta Cave 1 is significant, just like the one found in Deogarh Hindu temple site, because he is depicted with regalia, weapons and icons similar to Shiva and because he is surrounded by gods and goddesses. By portraying Skanda with Matrikas, he is equated with the Krittikas legend and thereby Kartikeya, and by showing him so prominently centred the artists are likely communicating the unity of Skanda-Shiva, that all these divinities are in essence the same spiritual concept, "all emanations of the lingam at the very heart of Elephanta", according to Schastok.

West wing: Other traditions

On the west side of the main hall is another attached shrine, though in a much more ruined state. The larger cave on the south side of the west shrine is closed, contains ruins and is bigger than the eastern side shrine. Some of the artworks from here were moved to museums and private collections by mid-19th-century, including those related to Brahma, Vishnu and others. The western face has two panels, one showing another version of Shiva in Yoga (see 14 on plan) and another Nataraja (see 15 on plan). Between these is a sanctum with a Shiva Linga.

This Yogi Shiva panel is damaged, but unlike the other Yogi depiction, here the leg position in Yoga asana has survived. The Yogishvara is seated on a lotus, and near him are two badly defaced characters, possibly one of Parvati and another ascetic. Above him are ruined remains of celestial gods or goddesses or apsaras. The Yogi Shiva is wearing a crown, and once again there is a space of isolation around the meditating yogi in which no other character enters. Below him, under the lotus, are Nagas and several badly damaged figures two of whom depict the anjali mudra. The Nataraja shown in the west shrine is similar in style to one inside the main mandapa. However, states Collins, its depth of carving appears inferior, and it seems more eroded being more open to rains and water damage.

Caves 2-5: Canon hill

To the south-east of the Great Cave is Cave 2. The cave is unfinished. The front of this cave was completely destroyed and restored in the 1970s with four square pillars. It has two small cells in the back.

Cave 4 is quite damaged, the large verandah lacking all its columns. The relief remains suggest the cave was once a Shaiva temple as well. The shrine in the back contains a lingam. There are also three cells for monks and a chapel at each end of the verandah.

Stupa hill: caves 6-7, stupas 1-2

Across the ravine from Cave 1 on the hill on the other side are two Buddhist caves, together with the remains of a stupa and water tanks. The sanctum has no remaining image. Cave 6 is historically significant because it was converted and used as a Christian church by the Portuguese in the later years when the island was a part of their colony (at some point between 1534 and 1682).

Next, along the face of the eastern hill to the north of Sitabai's cave is Cave 7 (), another small excavation with a veranda, which was probably to be three cells, but was abandoned following the discovery of a flaw in the rock.

Past Cave 7, to the east, is a dry pond, with large artificial boulders and several Buddhist cisterns along its banks. Near the cistern, now at the end of the north spur of the hill, is a mound that was identified as the remains of a Buddhist stupa (). This stupa, state Michell and Dhavalikar, was originally much taller and dates to about the 2nd century BCE.

Lost monuments

thumb|upright|An Elephanta artwork depicting Sadashiva now at the [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.]]

Many artworks from the Elephanta Caves ruins are now held in major museums around India. These include an almost completely destroyed Durga statue with only the buffalo demon with Durga's legs and some waist surviving. Other scholarly studied museum held Elephanta sculpture includes a part of Brahma head, several ruins of Vishnu from different statues, a range of panels and free-standing stone carvings. According to Schastok, some of these are "surely not part of the Great Cave", but it is unclear where they were found when they were moved elsewhere, or when ruins were cleared and restoration process initiated.

The Vishnu sculptures found among the Elephanta ruins express different styles. One wears a dhoti and has a looped girdle, while holding a conch at an angle near his thigh. The remnants of his sides suggest that this was likely a four arm iconography.

History

The ancient history of the island is unknown in both Hindu or Buddhist records. Archeological studies have uncovered many remains that suggest the small island had a rich cultural past, with evidence of human settlement by possibly the 2nd century BC. The regional history is first recorded in the Gupta Empire era, but these do not explicitly mention these caves.]]

According to Archaeological Survey of India and UNESCO, the site was settled in ancient times and the cave temples were built between 5th and 6th century. These scholars attribute these Cave temples to king Krishnaraja of the Kalachuri dynasty. The dating to a mid 6th century completion and it being a predominantly Shiva monument built by a Hindu Kalachuri king is based on numismatic evidence, inscriptions, construction style and better dating of other Deccan cave temples including the Ajanta Caves, and the more firm dating of Dandin's Dasakumaracarita.

According to Charles Collins, the significance of the Elephanta Caves is better understood by studying them in the context of ancient and early medieval Hindu literature, as well as in the context of other Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples on the subcontinent. The historic Elephanta artwork was inspired by the legends, concepts and spiritual ideas found in the Vedic texts on Rudra and later Shiva, the epics, the Puranas and the Pashupata Shaivism literature corpus of Hinduism composed by the 5th-century. The panels reflect the ideas and stories widely accepted and well known to the artists and cave architects of India by about 525 CE. The accounts varies significantly in these texts and has been much distorted by later interpolations, but the Elephanta Cave panels represent the narrative version most significant in the 6th century. The panels and artwork express through their eclecticism, flux and motion the influence of Vedic and post-Vedic religious thought on Hindu culture in mid 1st millennium CE.

After the caves' completion in the 6th century, Elephanta became popular regionally as Gharapuri (village of caves). The name is still used in the local Marathi language. It became a part of the Gujarat Sultanate rulers, who ceded it to the Portuguese merchants in 1534. The Portuguese named the island "Elephanta Island" for the huge rock-cut stone statue of an elephant, the spot they used for docking their boats and as a landmark to distinguish it from other islands near Mumbai. The elephant statue was harmed in attempts to relocate it to England, was moved to the Victoria Gardens in 1864, was reassembled in 1914 by Cadell and Hewett, and now sits in the Jijamata Udyaan in Mumbai.

thumb|left|The stone elephant that gave the name Elephanta. It used to be on the south shore of the island, the British attempted to move it to England in 1864, it broke, the reassembled pieces are now at the [[Jijamata Udyaan.]]

left|thumb|The stone elephant prior from its removal from the island.

Scholars are divided on who most defaced and damaged the Elephanta Caves. According to Macneil, the monuments and caves were already desecrated during the Sultanate rule, basing his findings on the Persian inscription on a door the leads to the grand cave.

Macneil concurs that Elephanta Caves were defaced and damaged during the colonial period but assigns the responsibility not to the soldiers but to the Portuguese authorities.

The Portuguese ceded the island in 1661 to the colonial British, but by then the Caves had seen considerable damage. The Portuguese had also removed and then lost an inscription stone from the caves. During the British rule, many Europeans visited the caves during their visit to Bombay, then published their impressions and memoirs. Some criticised it as having "nothing of beauty or art", while some called it "enormous artwork, of extraordinary genius".

In the late 1970s, the Government of India restored the main cave in its attempt to make it a tourist and heritage site. The caves were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 as per the cultural criteria of UNESCO: the caves "represent a masterpiece of human creative genius" and "bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared."

More specific legislation to preserve the Elephanta Island monuments were enacted with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958 and Rules (1959); The Elephanta Island (Protected Monument) Rules of 1957, which prohibits mining, quarrying, blasting, excavation and other operations near the monument; the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act promulgated in 1972 with its Rules promulgated in 1973; a Notification issued in 1985 declaring the entire island and a area from the shore as "a prohibited area"; a series of Maharashtra State Government environmental acts protecting the site; the 1966 Regional and Town Planning Act; and the 1995 Heritage Regulations for Greater Bombay.

In literature

In her 1834 poetical illustration The Caves of Elephanta, to an engraving of a painting by W. Purser, Letitia Elizabeth Landon laments the loss of the original spiritual purpose of this vast structure, so that now: 'The mighty shrine, undeified, speaks force, and only force, Man's meanest attribute'.

The Elephanta Caves are mentioned more than once in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and also feature in Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel The Razor's Edge.

References

Bibliography

Dehejia, V. (1997). Indian Art. Phaidon: London. .
Harle, J.C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art,

External links

World Heritage Sites - Elephanta Caves, Archaeological Survey of India
Elephanta Caves, Abhijna Museum
Archive of historic Elephanta Caves ruins photographs , British Library
Archive of historic Elephanta Caves sketches and paintings, V&A Museum
Elephanta Caves Timings & Ferry Timetable
A painting of Triad Figure, Interior of Elephanta by Samuel Prout engraved by William Woolnoth for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834, as an illustration to Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem .