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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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Ganesha at Home

Its been a couple of days since Ganesha came home, and its high time I shared Him with all of you.... Of course, considering that he stays home for ten full days, we have lots of time to share......

To begin with, this time, we decided to try our hand at making a Ganesha out of clay. Here are our combined outputs - the bigger one is obviously mine, but the smaller one is completely Samhith's effort....


Of course, this did not mean that we dispensed off with our regular clay idol from the market - we weren't too sure about how our handmade one would shape - so here is our very own small mandap with the market Ganesha being flanked by our very own smaller ones....


And then, here are the rest of our preparations for the puja -

My kolam (rangoli)

These are 21 types of leaves supposed to be considered very special for Ganesha....


Dhruva grass - the most sacred of all items for Ganesha (shall post the related story sometime, when I have more time ) and Tulsi leaves....


Bilva leaves and assorted flowers...(incidentally, we offer Bilva and tulsi to Ganesha only on this day...... )


And finally, the raison d'etre for the puja - the prasad.....Rice, Payasam, Kozhakattai (modaks), Vadai and Idli

Here's what the mandap looked after we finished the puja ... all of us took turns offering the flowers and leaves...

And that's just the beginning of the celebration. I am trying to post at least one pic of Ganesha everyday for the next 9 days... lets see how many I get to see!!!

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Comments

  1. MridulaSeptember 13, 2010 at 8:10 PM

    Lovely pictures Anu and I liked your and Samhith's effort a lot. Where did you learn it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. chitraSeptember 13, 2010 at 9:07 PM

    Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi greetings for you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2010 at 9:45 PM

    hey,
    gr8 work yaar!!!!! i m booking a ganpati for next yr frm now, dnt say no!!!! one frm u n frm my darling k??????
    Kanthi

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2010 at 5:02 AM

    Very nice and nicely done! I think it is beautiful in every way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 14, 2010 at 8:42 AM

    @Mridula: Thanks... havent really learnt it.. wanted to make one since a long time.. and this time, you tube came to my aid... there are lots of step by step videos showing how to make them.. it was quite a surprise to find it so easy!!

    @Chitra: thanks so much and wish you too the same....

    @Kanthi: u will surely get one next year.. he has decided to give this one to sandhya..

    @Anon: thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  6. sandeepSeptember 14, 2010 at 12:07 PM

    luvly post anu :) and the ganeshas are beautiful

    ReplyDelete
  7. InduSeptember 14, 2010 at 1:12 PM

    Lovely post Anu! Great pics too. =) Happy Ganesha Chaturthi greetings to you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Julia DuttaSeptember 14, 2010 at 2:27 PM

    Lovely pictures and a great post. I loved the prasadam too:)))

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 15, 2010 at 9:34 AM

    @Sandeep: thanks :)

    @Indu: thanks a lot! Wish you the same..

    @Julia: thanks.. the prasadam is the best part of our pujas, isnt it???

    ReplyDelete
  10. UshaSeptember 18, 2010 at 11:29 AM

    Hey! This is wonderful work! Never knew you could make all this with clay! I'm impressed! Wish I knew about this talent earlier; would have learnt from you :)

    ReplyDelete

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