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
A flock of birds pecking
at something on the ground caught my attention. They looked like sparrows, so I
turned my attention instead to a Little Green Bee Eater plucking out insects
from the air. It was only when the tiny sparrow landed nearer me that I realised
it wasn’t a sparrow – or at least, it wasn’t the common House Sparrow I see
everywhere.
Out came the camera and I
clicked furiously as the flock went about having their lunch.
It was Karthik who
enlightened me about the identity of these birds – these are Yellow
Throated Sparrows, also called Chestnut Shouldered Petronias. They
are a species of sparrow found in Asia, from Turkey to Afghanistan, Pakistan,
India and Bangladesh. There are vagrants found in Sri Lanka and also Myanmar.
Apparently, it’s quite a common bird, found in gardens, fields, and forests,
and it made me wonder why I haven’t noticed any before.
Can you see the dark brownish or chestnut patch on the shoulder? That, and the pale yellow patch on its throat (which you can see if you look really close, unfortunately, I need a better camera to show you) give the bird its name.
Interestingly, this is
the bird which is said to have introduced the legendary Salim Ali to
Ornithology. As a young boy, he shot a sparrow that looked different, and the
then secretary of the BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society) identified it for
him, and also introduced him to the subject. His interest was sparked, and he
went on to become probably the most well-known ornithologist of the country. Isn’t
it interesting to see how simple things like these change the course of a
person’s life?
I guess I have never seen it before! Looks pretty.
ReplyDeletenext time you see a sparrow, take a closer look, Mridula! you never know!
DeleteNice one
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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DeleteHello mam, It sounds very good when I visited your great blog and felt nice even I read your entire blog like photograph collection super means It was awesome overall... Thanks for share
ReplyDelete