Trip to India - Entry 15 - Elephanta Caves

One of the benefits of traveling in a large group is that the expense of hiring your own boat instead of bothering to wait for a ferry is really not a problem at all. We didn’t even fill our boat to get to the caves, and I doubt it was significantly more than going by public ferry would have been. The energy level was amazingly low…. I blame the energy level from the previous night.

Elephanta Caves are on an island which used to be the entryway to Mumbai, when it was still islands. The people living here have no running water, and subsist mainly on fishing and fathering, and what tourists visit. To reach the caves, you have to go up stone steps to the top of a hill. Generally, steps aren’t a problem – but in 100% humidity at 32’ Celsius, it can be a bit more of a problem, especially for yours truly, the delicate English flower. Anyway, we all made it to the top without incident, and Sarah actually took the human conveyance, thereby bringing her list of conveyances to include: auto rickshaw, bicycle rickshaw, train/metro, car, plane, boat, elephant, and now “Indian.” I think next we need to find a water buffalo taxi.

The caves are carved out of a single large granite rock, probably by monks during the Gupta period (5th-7th century), also known as India’s golden period. The cave was dedicated to Lord Shiva, known as the destroyer of evil. He is part of the Hindu triad of Rama, Vishnu and Shiva, who create, guide, and destroy life together. All of the statues in the cave depicted Lord Shiva in various poses and stories about him. One of the most infuriating aspects of visiting the cave was seeing the rampant destruction of the carvings done by the Portuguese when they first entered Mumbai in the sixteenth century. While I realize that, because the Portuguese were Catholic, they had no interest in or respect for the religion of the Hindus in the area, and to them these statues were an affront, they weren’t their statues to destroy, and the defaced structures represent the arrogance and lack of concern for the history and culture of others displayed by Westerners traveling east or west for many hundreds of years. To be fair, I don’t think this is necessarily a Western thing, but a human thing, and we Westerners just happened to have benefitted from a confluence of historical factors placing us in a position of dominance globally.

In any case, the remaining parts of the statues and stories are really quite beautiful, and one in particular – a trinity-like view of Lord Shiva – are stunning in their simplicity of design and elegance of form. Our guide said that the sculptors were more than likely Buddhist or Buddhist-influenced sculptors based on the stylization of the figures.

On the ferry on the way home, Rico had the brilliant idea of recreating the scene from Titanic on the front of the boat (and no, there were no safety ropes or any such thing like that), an idea which was eagerly pounced upon by Andy and myself. The first two to test the idea were Vikas and Rico, who make a charming couple… Andy and Lauren then went to the front of the boat. It is amazing how free and invincible one feels with a camera in front of the face. Rico took a picture of me while I was photographing Lauren and Andy, and I am literally leaning completely over the side of the boat with my hips nearly over the side. Then, we decided that me being on the ground in front of them at the bow would make a much better picture, so I shimmied out to the front of the boat, with my head over the front. Did I mention carrying a camera makes one feel invincible? Oh, and that I also don’t know how to swim? Got some great pictures, though…

After returning from Elephanta, we all prepared to leave for Goa, something for which we are all very excited – an excitement that for me has heightened since seeing everyone’s jealous reaction when we say we’re going to Goa!