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The primary cave, numbered as Cave 1, is about 1.0 km (0.62 mi) up a hillside, facing the Mumbai harbour.
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The larger group of caves, which consists of five caves on the western hill of the island, is well known for its Hindu sculptures. The island has two groups of rock-cut caves, hewn from solid basalt rock. A notification was issued by the Government of India in 1985 declaring a buffer zone that outlines "a prohibited area" that stretches 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the shoreline. The Elephanta island is a protected monument area as per the requirements of UNESCO. The most visited and significant cave is on the western hill and is called Cave 1 or the Great Cave, located about a kilometer walk up a steep graded uphill. Close to the five western hill caves, are Cave 6 and 7 on the eastern hill. The eastern hill has two Buddhist mounds and is called the Stupa hill. There are five rock-cut caves in the western hill and a brick stupa on the eastern hill. Landing quays sit near three small hamlets known as Set Bunder in the north-west, Mora Bunder in the northeast, and Gharapuri or Raj Bunder in the south. The foreshore is made up of sand and mud with mangrove bushes on the fringe. Forest growth with clusters of mango, tamarind, and karanj trees cover the hills with scattered palm trees. On the west, the hill rises gently from the sea and stretches east across the ravine and rises gradually to the extreme east to a height of 173 m (568 ft). A narrow, deep ravine separates the two hills and runs from north to south. The island is 2.4 km (1.5 mi) in length with two hills that rise to a height of about 150 m (490 ft). Mumbai has a major domestic and international airport, as well as is connected to the Indian Railways. The Elephanta Caves is connected by ferry services from the Gateway of India, Mumbai between 9AM and 2PM daily, except Monday when the Caves are closed. Gharapuri is a small village on the south side of the island. The island covers about 10 km 2 (3.9 sq mi) at high tide and about 16 km 2 (6.2 sq mi) at low tide. The broken pillars seen in the right image were restored in the 1970s.Įlephanta Island, or Gharapuri, is about 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the Gateway of India in the Mumbai Harbour and less than 2 km (1.2 mi) west of Jawaharlal Nehru Port. Ī sketch of the Elephanta Caves in 19th and early 20th century. It is currently maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1987, the restored Elephanta Caves were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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The monuments were restored in the 1970s. The earliest attempts to prevent further damage to the caves were started by British India officials in 1909. The main cave (Cave 1, or the Great Cave) was a Hindu place of worship until the Portuguese arrived, whereupon the island ceased to be an active place of worship. They were named Elefante – which morphed to Elephanta – by the colonial Portuguese who found elephant statues on the caves. Many scholars consider them to have been completed by about 550 CE. They are most commonly placed between the 5th and 7th centuries. These date to between the 5th and 9th centuries, and scholars attribute them to various Hindu dynasties. The carvings narrate Hindu mythologies, with the large monolithic 20 feet (6.1 m) Trimurti Sadashiva (three-faced Shiva), Nataraja (Lord of dance) and Yogishvara (Lord of Yoga) being the most celebrated. The main temple's orientation as well as the relative location of other temples are placed in a mandala pattern. Except for a few exceptions, much of the artwork is defaced and damaged. The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock.
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The Elephanta Caves contain rock cut stone sculptures, mostly in high relief, that show syncretism of Hindu and Buddhist ideas and iconography. The island, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, consists of five Hindu caves, a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BCE, and two Buddhist caves with water tanks. They are on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally "the city of caves"), in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahārāshtra. The Elephanta Caves are a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.