Elephanta Caves to get major facelift

The Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the Mumbai harbour, is set to get a major facelift.

The rock-cut cave-complex is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

A host of facilities are to be added in the site, which is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Located in Gharapuri Island, which comes administratively in Uran in the Raigad district, this is a popular tourist destination, accessible through ferry services which operate from the Gateway of India.

“A Rs 92-crore DPR has been sanctioned for the project,” Baliram P Thakur, Sarpanch, Gharapuri, told DH.

According to him, the project involves creation of facilities for tourists like pathways and roads, washroom facilities and gardens. A new jetty would also be created.

The Raigad district administration and Directorate of Tourism is working with other agencies for the project.

In fact, the Mumbai Port Authority is also working on a project to have a eight-km-long ropeway from Sewri to Elephanta, which would be the longest in the world. “Majority of the over 1,100 residents of Gharapuri is dependent on tourism and a refurbishment plan is needed post Covid-19 pandemic,” said Thakur.

There are cutlery shops, souvenir shops, small restaurants, local guides, who provide services to the tourists. Only a few local people depend on fishing.

The Elephanta Caves is among the three UNESCO World Heritage Sites -- the others being the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles.

The rock-cut Elephanta Caves were constructed around the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD.

The seven-metre-high masterpiece “Sadashiva” dominates the entrance to Cave 1. The sculpture represents three aspects of Shiva: the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer, identified, respectively, with Aghora or Bhairava (left half), Taptapurusha or Mahadeva (central full face), and Vamadeva or Uma (right half).

The representations of Nataraja, Yogishvara, Andhakasuravadha, Ardhanarishwara, Kalyanasundaramurti, Gangadharamurti, and Ravanaanugrahamurti are also noteworthy for their forms, dimensions, themes, representations, content, alignment and execution.

There are a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BC, and two Buddhist caves with water tanks.

Known in ancient times as Gharapuri ('place of caves'), the name Elephanta island was given by 16th-century Portuguese explorers after seeing a monolithic basalt sculpture of an elephant found near the entrance.