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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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Achalgarh - of a Fort and Temple, Bulls and Demons....

A bull which drove away invaders, three buffaloes said to be demons, a lake once said to have been filled with ghee and a temple once covered in lime to protect it – we couldn’t help but smile as we listened to these stories about Achalgarh. We had a day free at Mount Abu and were in the mood to explore, so we headed out for the tourist circuit, trusting our driver to take us to some interesting places. 



Achalgarh turned out to be the first on his list, and as we headed along roads with farms interspersed between the mountains, with scarcely a person to be seen anywhere, I wondered about the place we were going to. I had heard a bit about Achalgarh before we started, and knew that it had once been the capital of the area. The name indicated the presence of a fort, but our driver told me that there was no fort there. “Bas, mandir hai, Madam” he said. ”There is only a temple there.” I felt my enthusiasm droop at the idea of visiting yet another temple, but we had already turned on the road to Achalgarh, so there was no turning back.

To read the full article, click here.


This article was published on Spice Flair. To read all my articles on the site, click here. 

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Location: Mt Abu, Rajasthan, India

Comments

  1. MeenaJanuary 12, 2012 at 3:44 PM

    interesting..  we had gone to mount abu too but i think i forgot about this temple.  i loved mount abu trip

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mridula DJanuary 12, 2012 at 9:38 PM

    Great find Anu!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rniranjan_dasJanuary 13, 2012 at 1:17 PM

    Interesting place.

    www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. arpitha reddyJanuary 14, 2012 at 10:21 AM

    good post ..... really helpful...!!
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    ReplyDelete
  5. giftwithloveJanuary 14, 2012 at 6:30 PM

    Nice temple...............................http://www.giftwithlove.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anu ShankarJanuary 15, 2012 at 11:25 AM

    Yes, it was, Niranjan! surprisingly interesting :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anu ShankarJanuary 15, 2012 at 11:26 AM

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anu ShankarJanuary 15, 2012 at 11:26 AM

    Thanks Meena! Its a beautiful place, but isnt well promoted, so easy to forget!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hindi SMSFebruary 18, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    You have a great sense of writing I must say. Your post has those facts which are not accessible from anywhere else. I request you humbly please keep writing such remarkable articles.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bollywood ThemesMarch 1, 2012 at 5:45 PM

    glad to see ur post

    ReplyDelete

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