The Elephanta Caves, a Rock-Cut Shiva Temple on an Island Off Mumbai, Became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 11 December 1987

The Elephanta Caves are seven rock-cut caves on an island in Mumbai Harbour, off the coast of Maharashtra, and the largest of them, Cave 1, holds a three-faced figure of Shiva that UNESCO puts at 7 metres high. The World Heritage Committee inscribed the site in 1987 under criteria (i) and (iii), and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which owns and manages the monument, gave UNESCO the date as 11 December 1987. Per the ASI, the island lies about 11 km north-east of Apollo Bandar in Mumbai and 7 km from the mainland shore. Ferries go from the Gateway of India.

What UNESCO wrote in 1987

On criterion (i), a masterpiece of creative genius, UNESCO’s statement says the fifteen large reliefs around the lingam chapel in Cave 1 are among the greatest examples of Indian art and one of the most important collections for the cult of Shiva. On criterion (iii), UNESCO says: “The caves are the most magnificent achievement in the history of rock-architecture in western India.” The same text calls the layout of the caves, the pillars and the sanctum of sarvatobhadra plan important developments in rock-cut architecture. ICOMOS’s 1987 evaluation describes that sanctum as a chapel with four doors, each flanked by colossal guardian figures.

ICOMOS, the advisory body that evaluates nominations for UNESCO, reviewed the file in May 1987. It supported the principle of inscription and wrote that Elephanta would complete the series of Indian rock-art properties after Ajanta and Ellora, listed in 1983, and Mahabalipuram, listed in 1984. It recommended deferral for the time being, because the file gave no exact boundary, did not mention restoration after the campaigns of 1938 and 1957, and described no management plan. The Committee inscribed the site that year, as its Decision 11 COM VII.A records. In it, the Committee noted India’s statement that the government would take steps to protect the fragile property from industrial projects nearby.

Seven caves on two hills

UNESCO describes the island, which it also calls Gharapuri, as two hillocks separated by a narrow valley. The ASI’s report to UNESCO counts five rock-cut caves on the western hill. Stupa Hill, to the east, has two more caves, one unfinished and one a plain excavation, along with a brick stupa and a few rock-cut cisterns.

Cave 1 is the one visitors come for. It measures 39 metres from the front entrance to the back, and its main hall, leaving out the porticos and the back aisle, is 27 metres square, held up by rows of six columns each. In the ASI’s words, it is the most impressive of the seven and represents evolved Brahmanical rock-cut architecture. Both the ASI and UNESCO say its plan closely resembles the Dumar Lena cave (cave 29) at Ellora, where the Kailasa temple stands. ICOMOS noted that the builders carved false beams into the roof and shaped the supports to imitate the pillars, columns and capitals of built stone architecture.

Older remains lie on the island. UNESCO says they show occupation from as early as the 2nd century BC, and the ASI’s report to UNESCO mentions sherds of Roman amphorae and a brick stupa among the early finds.

The three-faced Shiva and the panels around it

UNESCO calls the figure that dominates the entrance to Cave 1 the Sadashiva and the Trimurti. Mahesa-murti is the ASI’s name for it. Heights differ by source. UNESCO says 7 metres, Maharashtra Tourism says over 6 metres, and Sahapedia’s overview by the art historian Dulari Qureshi says 18 feet, about 5.5 metres. By temperament, the ASI describes the three faces this way. Aghora is turbulent and fearsome, tatpurusha is benign and meditative, and vamadeva is mild and pleasing. UNESCO reads the faces as three aspects of Shiva, the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer, while ICOMOS’s 1987 evaluation reads Aghora as the destroyer and Vamadeva as the creator.

Other panels in the main cave, as the ASI lists them, include Ardhanarisvara, the form of Shiva that joins male and female energies, the cosmic dance of Nataraja, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, Shiva as Gangadhara receiving the river Ganga, Shiva killing the demon Andhaka, and Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa. As Sahapedia retells the tradition, Ravana tried to lift the mountain where Shiva and Parvati sit, Shiva pressed it down with his foot, and Ravana’s praise earned him a boon. Sahapedia notes the same scene at Ellora. A panel of Shiva seated in yoga posture is called Yogishvara by UNESCO and Lakulisa by the ASI, and Qureshi writes that scholars also read it as Yoga-Dakshinamurti.

ICOMOS recorded that the Yogishvara and Nataraja panels at the entrance are in a monumental style still close to that of the Gupta period. Qureshi writes that although most visitors take the Mahesamurti as the principal image, the lingam shrine facing Nandi is the main object of worship.

Who carved it, and when

No inscription dating the caves survives, so every date is an estimate and the estimates differ. UNESCO says the caves were constructed about the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD. For the ASI it is circa 6th to 7th centuries. ICOMOS wrote in 1987 that specialists vary from the 6th to the 8th century. Qureshi lists the scholars’ range as 5th to 8th. In her account, Walter Spink argues for a mid-6th century Kalachuri monument under King Krishnaraja, citing coins found on the island. V. V. Mirashi dates it to the early 7th century and also credits the Kalachuris. Ramesh Gupte argues for Chalukya influence, and James Burgess and Benjamin Rowland favour the late 8th century.

According to the ASI, the island passed through the hands of the Konkan Mauryas, Trikutakas, Chalukyas of Badami, Silaharas, Rashtrakutas, Kalyani Chalukyas, Yadavas of Deogiri, the rulers of Gujarat and then the Portuguese, followed by the Marathas and the British. It adds that the island is identified with Puri, named in the Aihole inscription of Pulakesin II.

How an island got a Portuguese name

Elephanta is the Portuguese name. The ASI says the island is named after a colossal elephant found there, and ICOMOS wrote that Portuguese navigators found the enormous stone elephant. Qureshi places it near the old landing place. Today the statue is housed at Jijamata Garden in Mumbai, the ASI says, and ICOMOS wrote that it was cut into pieces, taken to Bombay and put back together. Incredible India says the island passed from the Gujarat Sultanate to the Portuguese in 1534.

Gharapuri is the older local name. Qureshi writes that a village of that name lies on the south side of the island and that the word means a hill settlement in Marathi. UNESCO’s text mentions a Portuguese-period cannon at the top of the hill, and Maharashtra Tourism’s page says the caves suffered neglect and vandalism under Portuguese rule. Qureshi quotes the Portuguese chronicler Diogo de Couto on a large inscribed stone over the entrance, which the Portuguese sent to their king and which nobody could read. It has not been traced since.

The ASI and the work of keeping it standing

The ASI’s Aurangabad Circle is responsible for the monument, working through a sub-circle in Mumbai headed by a Conservation Assistant, according to the ASI’s 2002 report to UNESCO. Three ASI branches, Conservation, Chemistry and Garden, handle the structure, the stone and the grounds, the report says. Among the protections it lists are the Elephanta Island (Protected Monument) Rules of 1957, which prohibit mining, quarrying and blasting near the monument, and a 1985 notification that made the area around it, and a strip 1 km from the shore, a prohibited area. On the industrial projects ICOMOS had worried about, the ASI reports that the Maharashtra government imposed restrictions to limit their impact.

Since inscription, UNESCO lists these works at the site: pathways, repair of fallen and broken pillars, repair of collapsed facades, a flight of steps from the jetty, and a site information centre made from the custodian’s quarters. UNESCO also gave Rs 9,47,025 (about Rs 9.5 lakh), the ASI report records, for stone paving, retaining walls, railings, drains, toilets and the floor of Cave 1. Tasneem Mehta, vice chairman of INTACH (the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), recalled in a 2016 interview that INTACH began a management plan for Elephanta in 1996 with UNESCO’s involvement and a two-day seminar of about 600 participants. She said the government then set up a special purpose vehicle under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, and that a fundraising festival and art auction followed in 1997, with Shubha Mudgal singing and Alarmel Valli dancing inside the caves.

UNESCO’s current text names the next steps. They are to complete and adopt a Conservation Management Plan, to treat salt damage and general deterioration of the rock surface, and to redo some pillar restorations from the 1960s, which the ASI’s 2002 report says have developed cracks.

Getting to the island, and the festival

Maharashtra Tourism says visitors take a ferry from the Gateway of India, a ride of about an hour. On the island they climb a set of steps to the caves, and a toy train is available for those who prefer not to walk. November to February is the recommended season, and the ferry ride gets rough in the monsoon, from June to September. Opening hours on the ASI page are 9 am to 5 pm, with the caves closed on Monday. Incredible India gives a closing time of 5:30 pm, so confirm at the ticket counter. Entry fees are on the ASI page.

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) organises the Elephanta Festival to promote tourism in Mumbai. A PTI report carried by Onmanorama describes a two-day event of music, singing, dance, crafts and painting, opened at the Gateway of India and held on the island, with a heritage walk for visitors with disabilities past the Shiva sculptures. Outlook Traveller wrote in January 2023 that the festival falls as Shivratri approaches, that the Koli fishing community performs folk dance and music, and that entry is free.