Elephanta Island trip

This weekend I went for some sightseeing in Mumbai. Destination – Elephanta island!

We departed from Gateway of India, one of the Mumbai landmarks, that was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay, in December 1911. You can see some pictures:

Right opposite to the Gateway, you can see famous Taj Mahal hotel, the most luxurious hotel in India, of course owned by the Tata group?. It was built before gateway, and it was the first hotel that had elevator and electricity in India. Tata made it as a present to India.

We got in, just to use toilet :-). They open a entrance door for you, you get warm welcome, you get in the toilet, valley welcomes you, then you do what needs to be done, valley gives you towel, says goodbye when you get out, then again they open the door and wish you all the best. This is how you get served in the luxurious hotels!

Anyway, we got into small boat, and went to the island (1h trip). Island is famous cause it’s Elephanta caves (UNESCO World Heritage Site). In this caves, you can find ancient temples (9th century) with Shiva motives.

The most important sculpture is that of Trimurti Sadasiva, carved in relief at the end of the N-S axis. The image, 20 ft in high is if the three headed-Shiva, representing Panchamukha Shiva. The right half-face shows him as a young person with sensuous lips, embodying life and its vitality. In his hand he holds something that resembles a rose bud — again with the promise of life and creativity. It is this face that is closest to that of Brahma, the creator or Uma or Vamadeva,the feminine side of Shiva. The left half-face face on the side is that of a young man. It is mustached, and displays anger. This is Shiva as Aghora Bhairava, as the one whose anger can engulf the entire world in flames leaving only ashes behind. This is Shiva, the Destroyer. The central face, benign, meditative, as the preserver Vishnu. This is Shiva as the yogi — Yogeshwar — in deep meditation praying for the ‘preservation’ of humanity.

Also, after you finish visiting temple complex, you can climb to the canon hill. Place where you have beautiful view of Mumbai and Island around.

Chamber in the picture above presents Shiva Lingram Shrine. As I understood, this black stone (Lingram) represents “manhood” so people come and pray for re-creation :-).

Beside natural beauties and caves, you have special attraction – wild monkeys that are stealing whatever you have in the hand (bottles, small objects, etc). So watch out!

Caves complex is not so big, but it’s nice to see and hear more about Hindi religion and history. I suggest to visit this place if you are around Mumbai ;-).

After Elephanta Island, we went for a German Christmas Festival! This was organized by Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. It’s a big party with lots of German specialties like Bavarian beer, sausages, etc (I even found chicken gyros :-), Greek dish that somehow found its place in Germany). It was quite nice, rich daily program, with degustation of Dr Oetker muffins, variety of chocolates, Christmas carols, and lots of fun for everyone :-).Last year, as I heard, there was about 12.000 visitors during 2 days of the event.

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