Elephanta Island Things to Do

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Main Cave at Elephanta Island

This is the first and biggest cave on Elephanta Island, known as Main cave or Cave No.1 and this whole cave created by cutting hill and its is a single structure.
Here different form of Lord Shiva are carved on wall and all the sculptures are in damaged condition. In forth picture you can see layout of the main cave, out of which in the middle we can see very famous sculpture called " Trimurti "

Layout:
Main Hall
1. Ravana lifting Kailash
2. Shiva-Parvati on Kailash
3. Ardhanarishvara
4. Trimurti
5. Gangadhara
6. Wedding of Shiva
7. Shiva slaying Andhaka
8. Nataraja
9. Yogishvara
16. Linga

East Wing Shrine
10. Kartikeya
11. Matrikas
12. Ganesha
13. Dvarapala

West Wing Shrine
14. Yogishvara
15. Nataraja

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Cannon--Elephanta Island

Another Tourist attraction after visiting these caves. There are two Cannon on hill installed little apart. Path to these place is in little worst condition. At the start there are few steps to climb and after that small trail leads to this hill which you can see in third picture. And there is no railing for support and which makes this path little dangerous if a person slips or fall.

And these both Cannon worst maintained, its barrel is completely filled with dirt and plastic bottles and storage space which is just beneath it is now storage place for all kind of crap that tourist throw here irresponsibly.. Its support is totally rusted and in few years it will fall I am sure of that..

This place is worth visiting for these two Cannon and view from top is really good.

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Archaeological Museum,Elephanta Island

Just behind ticketing counter we can find this small Archaeological Museum. Its worth spending little time here. It opened in 1999 and opened with help of UNESCO and Reliance industries.
It got few sculptures and pictures of Elephanta caves's sculptures with little details. Apart from that where Archaeological departments work in other places in India and other World Heritage sites in india. Very few people visit this museum as nothing looks fancy from outside, it just got three tiny rooms. And from outside it looks like small hut and thats the reason it does not attract much tourist.

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From/To Boat jetty to Island

So colorful and bright in color....Is it really meant for transportation where we need to walk just for about 1Kms. Does it serves it purpose??? Is it really worth riding on this train????

Fun to watch this train and young people on it. When we arrived at boat jetty this so called train was returning and by the time we reached on other end it did not even started!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are young and healthy and can walk then please do walk as at home if you need to walk 1Kms I dont think you will waste gas for it.

Engine of this train great contributor for noise and air pollution and apart from it from start to end whole train track is soaked in leaking oil from this engine which ultimately goes into sea during rain and retuns back to us circulating in eco-system.

Fare is just 10/-Rs for going and coming back...not expensive but not worth waiting for this train and contributing for pollution( ha ha ha )..

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Elephanta Island

Elephanta Island or also known as Gharapuri Island or place of caves is only accessible by ferries operates from Gate way of India, Mumabi. This Island is about 11 Kms from Gate way of India and ferry ride roughly takes one hour and operates daily. But during rainy season i.e during June-August 1st week if sea is rough then these ferries do not operate which happened with me once. Actually I was not going to Elephanta Island but place called Nava-Sheva Nr. to Elephanta Island.

Ferries charges were 130/-Rs. i.e around 2.5 US$ for round trip.

Last ferry from leaves from Island at 530 in the evening and overnight stay is not allowed. There are three villages on the Island Shentbandar, Morabandar, and Rajbandar.Caves and stalls can be seen in Shentbandar

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The main temple on Elephanta Island is the cave worth seeing on the island. It is a temple dedicated to Shiva with halls of pillars, shrines and courtyards. On the walls are beautiful stone carvings.

When you enter the cave you will see a 6 metre tall statue of Sadhashiva in front of you. Sadhashiva is a three faced Shiva where Shiva is the destroyer (the face to the left), the creator (the face to the right) and the preserver of universe (the calm central face). In the main hall there is a Shiva Shrine. It has four doors with big statues - doorkeepers - outside.

There is a footpath going around the island (which I didn’t take) and there are three villages on the island. After seeing the caves I decided to walk up to Cannon Hill. Halfway up there was a stall selling snacks and drinks so I stopped to buy a Coke. As the rain started to pour down I stayed there for a while before continuing. On Cannon Hill there are two cannons and some ruins of buildings. And from the top there is a fine view.

It takes about an hour to go by boat to Elephanta Island from Mumbai. When you arrive to the island the boat stops at the end of a long pier. After the pier you will walk past souvenir stalls and food stalls, and have about 120 steps to climb to the entrance where you pay the admission. Admission for foreigners in June 2010 was Rs 250. The caves are open Tuesday - Sunday between 9 - 17.
Just after the small office where you pay the admission there is a small museum where it can be good to begin the tour.