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The Elephanta Caves

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
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Rangolis - Maharashtrian style!

I have always been fascinated by the Maharashtrian way of drawing rangolis. While I love drawing the traditional 'kolams' with rice paste, I am no good at using the kolam powder or rice flour. These are typical Maharashtrian patterns drawn at Jalgaon, where, as I mentioned earlier, we attended a puja.

The girl was young, must have been younger than me, and she drew these two rangolis in a matter of minutes!



Normally, when we use rice flour, we can only draw one line at a time. Here, in the next rangoli, she drew 4 at a time!!! It was fantastic to watch her, and I tried taking a pic of her drawing the rangoli. Unfortunately, it was dark and they did not come out well. These pix were taken the next day, and I wasn't able to locate her and ask her to pose next to her creations.




A wonderful job,isn't it? what do you say????



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  1. Tarun MitraJanuary 17, 2010 at 11:25 AM

    beautiful....

    ReplyDelete
  2. NishaJanuary 17, 2010 at 12:30 PM

    These are beautiful. Kudos to that girl. I could never learn doing complicated designs.

    But I still feel that south Indians make faster rangolis. In Chennai during festivals seasons they make big ones on the road... each better than the other one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MridulaJanuary 17, 2010 at 2:45 PM

    I am sure I will never be able to make these even in days! My teachers used to give me passing marks in drawing because I used to do well in other subjects :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. SoulSpaceJanuary 17, 2010 at 8:10 PM

    lovely
    actually Yu must visit vilages in Tamilnadu during Marghazi(if yu have, then do tell!)...entire streets with wonderful elaborate kolams...
    its beautiful
    and so were these...

    ReplyDelete
  5. sriJanuary 18, 2010 at 5:12 PM

    beautiful creation, from the professional girl :) and as story teller said if u visit agraharams of south during margazhi that would be a virtual delight :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousOctober 12, 2012 at 2:26 PM

    Loved the rangoli designs. Very creative.Love to feature these rangoli designs here http://www.3mik.com/group/rangoli

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 22, 2013 at 11:50 AM

    What an amazing artwork! I am always feeling awed everytime i see these Rangoli designs made for the festivals, so amazing! thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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