The Elephanta Caves , located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, about 11 Km off the coast of the Gateway of India, Mumbai, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A visit to these caves, excavated probably in the 6 th century CE, is awe-inspiring, and also thought-provoking. Over the years, I have visited the caves a number of times, and also attended a number of talks by experts in the fields of art, history and archaeology on the caves. Together, they help me understand these caves, their art, and the people they were created for, just a little bit better. Every new visit, every new talk, every new article I read about the caves, fleshes out the image of what the island and the caves would have been like, at their peak. I last wrote about the caves on this blog, in 2011, almost exactly 11 years ago. Since then, my understanding of the caves has, I would like to think, marginally improved. Hence this attempt to write a new and updated post, trying to bring to life, the caves of Elephan
Waking up early in the morning in a small house with a tiled roof with no alarms, just birdsong acting as one, sitting down for a healthy breakfast cooked with ingredients from the garden, spending the day walking in a jungle or swimming in a river, looking at birds and butterflies, warming oneself by a bonfire at night and calling an end to the wonderful day with a dinner by candlelight – doesn’t that sound idyllic and hardly possible? Yet that is just what we did this weekend, taking advantage of the holiday on account of Republic Day. We spent three wonderful days at The Hermitage, an hour and a half away from Belgaum. Our hosts, David and Morvarid Fernandez have lived there for 28 years, and for the last seven years, have allowed a few guests like us to spend time at their home, and experience the rustic village life for ourselves. From The Hermitage Jan 09 The Gota - a rural cottage, where we lived We took the night bus from Bombay to Belgaum, where a cab met us to take u