Captain

The Captain of our boat steering us back to Mumbai mainland. Thank you folks for coming along on a trip to Elephanta Caves. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Atop!

Yes! We have reached the top and now we can see the jetty below from where we had started the toytrain ride. Behind us are the famed Elephanta Caves!

Toy train

The toy train takes passengers from the jetty to the footsteps of the Elephanta Caves. This journey takes a couple of minutes and costs only Rs.10/- for a return ticket per head.

Crossover

After having reached the pier, to alight from the boat and set foot on land to go to the Elephanta Caves, we had to crossover through another boat..
Hewn out of solid rock, the Elephanta Caves date back to 600 AD. These rockcut temples were created by carving out rock, and creating the columns, the internal spaces and the images. The entire temple is akin to a huge sculpture, through whose corridors and chambers one can walk. The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Some of the rock surfaces are highly finished while some are untreated bare rock.

The pier

A crowded pier at Elephanta. Elephanta Island was known in ancient times as "Gharapuri" or The Place of Caves. The Portuguese took possession of the island and named it Elephanta after the great statue of an elephant which they found on the seashore. At present, the statue of the elephant is housed at Jijamata Garden in Mumbai.

Elephanta Ahoy!

Elephanta Ahoy! Yes, now we can see the Elephanta island and should be there in another 15minutes...

Boats

Some more boats off the Mumbai harbour. Elephanta island is nearing now. My next post should be a view of the island from a distance.

The boat

This is the typical boat that is used to ferry people across people between the Gateway of India and the Elephanta caves. The Elephanta island is located about 13 km away from the Gateway of India at Mumbai. These caves house rock cut temples dating back to the 5th century.