Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta Caves are cut into the rock of Elephanta Island. The island is also called Gharapuri. It lies in Mumbai Harbour.

The caves are mainly for Shiva. The great cave, Cave 1, is cut into the western hill. UNESCO lists the whole site as a World Heritage Site. The year is 1987.

What is on the island besides the caves?

The island has remains of other periods. Remains of people living there go back to the 2nd century BC. Buried stupas lie towards the eastern side of the hill. A cannon stands at the top.

The Portuguese gave the island this name. They saw a huge stone elephant near the old landing place. They called the island after it.

The older name is Gharapuri. Its meaning is not clear. The 1934 Guide links it to a Prakrit word for a fort. Another source reads it as “hill settlement”.

What happened to the stone elephant?

The head and neck fell off in 1814. The rest later fell to pieces. In 1864 the stones were moved to the Victoria Gardens in Bombay and set up again. Today the elephant stands in Jijamata Udyan in Mumbai.

Cave 1 is the great cave. It is 39 metres from the front entrance to the back. The main hall is 27 metres square. Rows of six columns hold up the roof.

The cave has a square shrine with a Shiva linga. It has four entrances. This is the sanctum, or garbha-griha.

Which carvings should I know?

Large panels show Shiva in different forms. UNESCO names seven of them:

• Nataraja, Shiva as King of Dancers.
• Yogishvara.
• Andhakasuravadha, Shiva as killer of the demon Andhaka.
• Ardhanarishvara.
• Kalyanasundaramurti, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati.
• Gangadharamurti, the descent of the Ganga.
• Ravananugrahamurti.

UNESCO counts fifteen large reliefs around the linga chapel. UNESCO calls the fifteen large reliefs one of the greatest examples of Indian art.

The cave once had paintings. Only faint traces are left.

Visitors call the big image the Trimurti. That word suggests Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva together. The image is not that. All three faces show Shiva.

The image is Sadashiva, also called Maheshamurti. UNESCO gives its height as 7 metres. It dominates the entrance to Cave 1.

Who are the three faces?

UNESCO names them from left to right. The left half is Aghora, or Bhairava. The centre is Tatpurusha, or Mahadeva. The right half is Vamadeva, or Uma.

The 1934 Guide calls the name “Trimurti” a miscall. The name fits only as “triple form”, not as the Hindu triad.

Why are only three faces shown?

Five forms of Pashupati lie behind the image. They are Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana. Ishana is usually not shown. Images that show all five forms carry only four faces.

The Elephanta image has three faces. The fourth is understood to be present but is not seen.

The Pashupatas were a Shaiva sect. Kramrisch and Collins argued that the cave plan meets the rules of Pashupata teaching.

What was a Pashupata initiate’s path?

At first an initiate did not have to be a monk. The path had four stages:

1. He lived in the house of his teacher.
2. He lived in a Shiva temple.
3. He lived in a cave.
4. He lived in a cremation ground.

What did he meditate on?

He meditated on five forms of Pashupati, which is a name of Shiva. The order was Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana. In the last stage he meditated on Ishana. Ishana is usually not shown in an image.

Kramrisch notes that the caves at Mandapeshwar and Jogeshwari, Cave 29 at Ellora and the great cave share a similar plan. Scholars find it hard to prove one patron for all of them.

Nobody knows for sure. No inscription survives that names the builder. The Portuguese removed a large inscribed stone from over the entrance. It was lost.

What is the Kalachuri theory?

Walter Spink holds that the Kalachuri king Krishnaraja had the great cave cut in the mid-6th century. Copper coins of Krishnaraja turn up in fair numbers in western India. Thousands of coins have also turned up on the island.

V. V. Mirashi also names the Kalachuris. He puts the work in the early 7th century.

What do the other views say?

Ramesh Gupte points to the Chalukyas. He notes the pearled sacred thread worn by the figures. An earlier view gave the caves to the Konkan Mauryas. Mirashi answers that the Mauryas were only vassals of the Kalachuris. In his view they could not have paid for such a cave.

Why do coins not settle it?

Coins show that a king’s money was in use on the island. They do not by themselves say who ordered the cave. So the Kalachuri theory is one view, not a proven fact.

UNESCO says the caves were built about the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD. The 1934 Guide says about the 6th century. Older writers gave the 8th or early 9th century.

What harm did the Portuguese do?

The Portuguese used the caves as cattle sheds and to store fodder. In 1712 a Portuguese hidalgo fired shots into the great cave. The shots broke some pillars. Cave 6 served as a Christian church.

How have the caves been kept?

From 1890 the Public Works Department repaired the pillars. In 1909 the monuments were declared protected under the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act.

UNESCO notes that saline activity and rock decay still harm the caves.

• Place. Elephanta Island, also called Gharapuri, in Mumbai Harbour.
• God. Shiva.
• Name. The Portuguese named it after a stone elephant.
• Elephant. Head fell in 1814. Moved and re-set in 1864.
• Main image. Sadashiva. Three faces show. It is not the Hindu trinity.
• Sect. The Pashupata link. Initiates meditated on five forms of Shiva.
• Builder. Not named in any inscription. Kalachuri Krishnaraja is one of the main theories.
• Listing. UNESCO, 1987.

What are the traps?

1. The British naming. The Portuguese named the island.
2. One large cave. The island has caves on both hills.
3. A Vishnu carving. The famous image is Shiva as Sadashiva.
4. The Trimurti. It is not Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Has this come up in the exam?

The answer is (d). The Pashupata sect is tied to the caves. Option (a) fails because the Portuguese named the island. Option (b) fails because the island has caves on both hills. Option (c) fails because the famous image is Sadashiva.