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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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Wayanad - A Forest Shrine

Returning from our encounter with the python, we chose a different path back, and came across this....




A stone idol of Ganesha, with a small stone container (probably a lamp), with a feather lying by the side - doesn’t it look like the feather might be a quill, and the container might hold ink, ready for the Lord to pick it up and write? As the one who penned down the Mahabharata as Vyasa dictated it, the sight was appropriate, don’t you think?



The idol was installed outside what we were told, was an ancient, tribal temple.



The temples were really shrines, built mostly with bamboo, and in one case, bricks, and they were old, though they didn’t really look ancient.



There wasn’t much to see or appreciate, especially since the temples were closed.



The Ganesha idol was surely the most interesting thing here, and that too by a quirk of nature, which caused the feather to fall where it did!!!! 

Related Posts on Wayanad:

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Location: Wayanad, Kerala, India

Comments

  1. P.N. SubramanianJune 12, 2013 at 9:36 AM

    Excellent. The Ganesha must be some 1200 years old. Though there is an ink pot and a quill nearby, I wonder if any material like paper was available to write on during those times. The tribal s did not deem it necessary to place the idol inside their Shrine!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJune 12, 2013 at 9:38 AM

      Thanks PNS, but i somehow felt that the Ganesha must have been a recent addition to the shrine, which is why it was placed outside.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJune 12, 2013 at 3:21 PM

    At which place is this temple located.

    translation ahmedabad
    interpretation ahmedabad

    ReplyDelete
  3. R Niranjan DasJune 12, 2013 at 11:03 PM

    Wow! Those temples look interesting. Have never seen such ones. Nice post Anu.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/06/amidst-sea-of-blue.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. RajeshJune 15, 2013 at 12:25 PM

    Wonderful place to explore. Very true Ganesha idol real eye catcher.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SudhageeJune 19, 2013 at 3:58 PM

    I wonder what deities are inside the forest shrines. I also find it very interesting that all the shrines are laid out in a row. And, old or new, I like the Ganesha :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. ErcotravelsJune 21, 2013 at 5:09 PM

    Temples looks weird but have a peaceful and clean atmosphere nearby.

    ReplyDelete

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