One should go to see the Ancient India Caves -The Elephanta

-

Elephanta Caves  

 


About 10 km  east of the Gateway of India in the Mumbai Harbour and less than 2 km  west of Jawaharlal Nehru Port we find ourself at a beautiful island named The Elephant or Gharapuri.We can get a ferry services from the Gateway of India to The Elephanta Caves.The Ferry starts 9am and 2pm everyday from Gateway of India except the Monday when Caves are closed.The nearest Airport and Railway Station in Mumbai.
The Length of the Island is almost two and half kilometer with two hils that rise a height of about 500 feet.a narrow deep valley separates the two hills. Greenary forest are so beautiful nearby the caves.There are five rock-cut caves in the western hill and a brick stupa on the eastern hill. One of the hills has two Buddhist mounds, and is called the Stupa hill. Close to the five western hill caves, ther are Cave 6 and 7 on the eastern hill. The famous and significant cave is on the western hill and is called cave 1 or the great cave.
The UNESCO declared The Elephanta island is a protected monument area. , A notification was issued by the Government of India in 1985 declaring a buffer zone that includes "a prohibited area" that stretches 1 kilometre  from the shoreline.


Either Hindu or Buddhist records are unknown about the history of the island. There are the possibilities suggested by the archeological studies that these caves are  many centuries older than the christ birth. The evidence of human settlement by possibly the 2nd century BC. The Elephanta site was first occupied by Hinayana Buddhists, before the arrival of the Brahmans to the island, to raise a large stupa to the Buddha with seven smaller stupas around it, probably around the 2nd century BCE. The Archeological survay team found here Coins of the Kshatrapas (Western Satraps) dating to the 4th century CE.
After the Caves completion in the 6th century, Elephanta became popular regionally as Gharapuri (village of caves). Once It became a part of the Gujarat Sultanate rulers, who ceded it to the Portuguese merchants in 1534. The Portuguese named the island "Elephanta Island" for the huge rock-cut stone statue of an elephant, the spot they used for docking their boats and as a landmark to distinguish it from other islands near Mumbai. But as usual British did in past it also the victim of their crualness,The elephant statue was damaged in attempts to relocate it to England, was moved to the Victoria Gardens in 1864, was reassembled in 1914 , and now sits in the Jijamata Udyaan in Mumbai.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Story of Menaka and the relationship with Vishwamitra

-
Image
Menaka Trying to break the Meditaion of Rishi Vishwamitra When Ocean was churned by Asuras and Devas, then lot of thing came out from the depth of the ocean, An Upsara(Beautifyl lady) also came from the depth of Ocean. Her name was Menaka.She was a beauti with brain.She was a reputed dancer in the heaven.Vishwamitra, one of the most respected Rishi (sages) in ancient India, frightened the gods in heaven and even tried to create another heaven- Indra, frightened by his powers, sent Menaka from heaven to earth to lure him and break his meditation. Menaka succeeded in the task which was handed over to her by Indra. And She succeeded in breaking the meditation of Vishwamitra. And Both of them are loved each other  and  from their relationship a baby was born who later grew in the Rishi Kanva's Ashram and came to be called Shakuntala. Once the King of Puru dynesty was come to hunting in the Jungle ,then he saw the the Beautiful lady who was Shakuntala.Later Shakuntala f...
Read more

The Story of Brahmarishi Vishwamitra

-
Brahmarishi Vishwamitra  is one of the most respected rishis or righ-minded of ancient India. He is the participantant in writting of  the Rigveda, including Gayatri Mantra. The Ancient literature mentioned  that only 24 rishis since antiquity have understood the whole meaning of Gayatri Mantra. There  are the assumption that Vishwamitra was the first, and Yajnavalkya the last. The story of Vishwamitra is written  in the Balakanda of Valmiki Ramayana. Also  relationship of Vishwamitra and Menaka mentioned in Mahabharata and  also mentioned that the relationship of Maharishi Vishwamitra and Upsara Menaka resulted a baby girl who called after , Shakuntala, whose story is narrated in Adi Parva of Mahabharata. In Valmiki Ramayana ,Verse 51 of Balakanda, there is a story metioned about the Vishwamitra. There is mentioned that  Vishwamitra  was a king in ancient India, also called Kaushika (descendant of Kusha) and belonged to Amavasu Dynasty....
Read more

Why Govt deducts tax from My hard money

-
Image
Every State, no matter it is related to North Poles or South Poles, needs fund for going concern of the Country. Every Country wants to make infrastructural Projects Like Highways, Pools,Flyovers,Railways, Educational Institutions for their people, hospitals for caring from diseases, Army for protecting the Borders etc etc. And I don't think so these activities are  free of Cost, they needs fund. But A Big Question arise here How the Government gets the fund. This is Common problem for every Country in world. Government have few options, they get the funds from running State-governed businesses. There are few example of this types of Country like Russia, North Korea or May be Cuba.These types of Countries take the all control of industries in their own hand. They Control the Natural resources like Mines, Oil field,  goods making factory. In the second types, Capitalist Countries are included, there are independence to their public to run the business and private se...
Read more