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
Considering that Samhith's school is extremely miserly about holidays, we had completely forgotten that Guru Nanak Jayanti would bring us a day off. By the time we realised it, it was too late to plan something properly. But some frantic googling and lots of phone calls later, we finally headed out, before sunrise, on our unplanned, last-minute-holiday to Bhimshankar! The trip was special because it had been a long time since we had headed out of town on an impulse, but even more because, Bhimshankar, home to one of the 12 Jyotirlingams (of which I have now seen 10) had been on my radar for a long long time, but it had eluded me for so many years! The Lord seemed to want to make up for all the times my trip had been postponed, because the trip was memorable, not just because of the temple, but because of so many other experiences... You will have to wait to read about them, though, till I manage to sit down long enough to write all of them down.... Meanwhile, here are some photos for you to enjoy, as my contribution to Sky Watch Friday....
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The sun rises over a small, sleepy town on the road to Bhimashankar |
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Peeping from behind the only tree I can see standing tall in the area! |
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The view from the hills on the way to Bhimashankar... |
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The sun prepares to set behind the mountains as we wind our way back home on the expressway |
For more beautiful skies from around the world, go to Sky Watch Friday!
lovely
ReplyDeleteSuch gorgeous skies! Unplanned trips are often the best kind.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lakshmi!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lady Fi! Unplanned trips are always the best! probably because we start out with such low expectations!
ReplyDeleteNice shots.
ReplyDeletewww.rajniranjandas.blogspot.com
Wow, such lovely shots. I like the one where the sun is peeping from behind the tree.
ReplyDeletebeautifully captured!
ReplyDeleteSuperb shots.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Raj Niranjan!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pradeepa! thats one of my favourites too... and it was completely a chance shot.. taken from the moving car!
ReplyDeleteThanks Deepak!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rajesh!
ReplyDeletebeautiful series of skywatch shots. the last one is my favorite. Happy skywatching!
ReplyDeleteNice pics. The view from hilltop is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteLovely pics Anu.
ReplyDeleteI came here from Zephyr's Cybernag and your pictures are very nice. Looking forward to the post on the Jyotirlingam itself...
ReplyDeleteI cant imagine you not having visited Bhimashankar till now!! Its really a very beautiful place, especially in the rainy season...
ReplyDeleteLovely captures.
Nice!!
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures!
ReplyDeleteTHanks Chitra!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mridula!
ReplyDeleteThanks Aravind!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rahul!
ReplyDeleteTHanks a lot, A-kay! the write up will come soon.. as soon as i can get down to the serious business of writing :D
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Eileen!
ReplyDeleteWhile we were in pune ,we visited Bheemashankar twice-once in rainy season another in winters and experienced two entirely different moods of the place,nature display wise.now I am eagerly waiting for your subsequent posts to feel it once more.
ReplyDeletelovely pics.
Got to sit down and write, Namita! lots and lots to write!
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