Off the coast of South Mumbai lie several islands. On Sunday, we took an hour long boat ride across the Arabian Sea to one of them. Elephanta Island is home to a complex of ancient temple caves, thought to date back to the 6th or 7th century. The temples, columns and statues were carved right out of the mountain, with hammer and chisel from the top down and served as a place for Hindi worship until the 1500's. At that time, the Portuguese discovered the island and gave it the name, Elephanta Island, for the large stone elephant at the entrance. Unfortunately, the Portuguese had little respect for Lord Shiva and used the statues for target practice, resulting in the loss of many arms and legs!
It was great to get away from the city for the day. The island wasn't nearly as crowded as the city, there was lots of grass and fresher air. It was a real "touristy" kind of way to spend the day, but we all enjoyed it and learned a lot about the history of this beautiful island.
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| Tully and Mom on the boat ride over |
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| Our first glimpse of the big cave |
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| In front of Shiva |
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| The three faces of Shiva |
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| carved from the top down |
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| Here you can see how the temple is literally carved right out of the rock |
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| This reminded me of the Lion in front of Baxter High School! |
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| Larani, Rick, Tully, Kelli, Bobbi Jo, Zach and Nancy |
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| Tully in the window of the "museum" |
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| The amazing wilting plant: touch it and it wilts right in front of your eyes |
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Cool refreshment after the tour: Fresh lime soda for me and a Kingfisher for Rick!
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