23rd February: Elephanta Island

After another less than impressive breakfast at the hotel, we tried to find a taxi to take us to the departure point for the ferry to Elephanta Island. A couple of drivers, seemingly rather bemused, told John it was not possible to drive us to the island. The third person we tried did understand us, and we headed south to the Gateway to India.  This imposing archway was completed in 1924, and the last British troops to leave India marched beneath it in 1948.

Gateway to India

We bought our ticket and headed over to the Gateway to find our transport. The boat was already pretty full so we decided to go up on the top deck, for which we had to pay an extra 10 rupees. It was definitely worth it as we had a great view and could enjoy the gentle breeze.

Once on the island, after a journey of around an hour, we were quite surprised to see that they had a little tourist train to cover the first 500 metres or so leading from the jetty to the island. Then there were another few hundred metres to reach the bottom of the stairway of 120 stone steps, which marked the beginning of the interesting part. Porters were offering to carry tourists up on a palanquin; it was rather tempting, but we decided to climb under our own power. Stalls were lined up on both sides of the stairway, and a plastic cover offered much-needed shade. Climbing those stairs under the blazing sunshine would have been almost unbearable; even in the shade it was close to 30 degrees celsius.

Gateway to India and the Taj Palace Hotel

Little train, apparently full

Stalls lining the way, one of which had an ambiguous sign offering an "Indian Burgur"

The name "Elephanta" was given to the caves by the Portuguese in the 16th century when they found a huge stone elephant on the island. The same Portuguese damaged some of the sculptures by firing inside the caves to test the echo. Nevertheless, most of the statues are still relatively well-preserved. The exact date of the sculpted caves has not been determined, but they are thought to have been carved between the 5th and 8th centuries AD.

The main caves are dedicated to Shiva, who is represented in all of the sculptures and also as a lingam in the middle of the caves. Apart from the representation of Shiva killing a demon (Andhakasura Vadh) and thus depicted in its scariest aspect, most of the sculptures show a very relaxed Shiva.  The finest sculpture is the Mahesh Murti, a three-faced image of Shiva.  The central face (Tatpursha) is calm and seems to be meditating (his eyes are closed), the left face represents the destructive aspect of Shiva (Aghora), while the right face represents Shiva's female aspect (Vamdeo).

Entering the caves

Ardhanarishwar - Shiva (half male, half female)

Natraj Shiva, the King of Dancers

Shiva Shrine, with the lingam at its heart

Terrific aspect of Shiva killing Demon Andhaka

John in front of Mahesh Murti (the "Great Lord") 

Flipping through the guidebook

We caught the boat back towards the Gateway to India, around an hour's journey away, then walked to the main streets of Colaba in search of a restaurant. We fancied some continental food and were not disappointed by what we were served in Basilico, an Italian restaurant. On the way, we walked by Hotel Prossers, which I seemed to recall is where we stayed when I first came to Mumbai 8 years ago. It really looked like the hotel we stayed in for one or two nights, and the name sounded familiar (not the finest in Mumbai).

We had a quick wander around the shops of the main street of Colaba, but the only shop worth mentioning is the small store with shelves bearing pretty glass bottles where we bought some perfume. We then walked west towards the Arabian Sea, past the Oval Maidan where a cricket game was being played.

Selecting a perfume

Oval Maidan, with the clocktower of Mumbai University in the distance
(John was very pleased with himself for catching the moment of the ball hitting the stumps)

We then walked up to and along Marine Drive and waited for sunset, sitting on the edge facing the Arabian Sea. As we were on the way back to the hotel, we went past a few nice shops. I managed to convince John to enter "for a few minutes". It must have been quite a popular address as there were many customers in the shop. They showed us beautiful silk saris, and I was finding it difficult to resist, but on second thoughts, I realised that I would probably not wear it often enough, and that it would end up gathering dust in my cupboard. Nevertheless, it was nice to have them show us the fine silk garments.

Walking along Marine Drive

Sunset on the Arabian Sea

Looking south along Marine Drive

John finally managed to get me away from the shops and we arrived back at the hotel late in the evening. We had planned to get some rest, work on the blog, and then go out to a restaurant and a bar nearby, but laziness took over and we ended up having dinner in the hotel and going to bed early. Tediously, the internet connection was not fast enough to allow us to make significant progress on the blog.