After lunchtime from the Gateway of India, a symbolic entrance to subcontinent during the British Empire in Mumbai, I took a boat ride to see the Elephanta Caves on the island of the same name just outside the metropolis. The trip took exactly one hour to reach the island passed many navy bases, cargo ports, petroleum jetties and a nuclear power plant, if not because of UNESCO protection, I believe Elephanta Island will be a part of Mumbai electrical grid production.

On the island I had been approached by the typical guide scam who always claimed that you need a proper guide to enter the caves, just ignored them. I rode the mini train from port to the island. From the train parking, I had to pay a small landing fee, and then I walked thru many souvenir shops and restaurants, these shops made the island like a market place and seemed to me that many tourists loved shopping even before seeing the caves. Since the caves were located on the hill in the middle of island, the way to the caves required some hiking. Again along the hiking route in the forest were full with souvenir shops and warning signs for monkey attack. On the hill there was another ticket counter but this time for the caves. I immediately followed people to see the cave no.1 which I believed the sole highlight of Elephanta. The cave was quite impressive than my original though. The cave was adorned with many Shiva depictions. The beautiful Shiva Nataraja next to the main entrance was really impressive even in partial ruined state. But the centerpiece of the cave was the big statue of three heads Shiva. I was really confused as many travel websites called the statue as Trimurti, from my understanding Trimurti means Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu together, and the depiction I saw was no way Brahma and Vishnu. Strangely I got the answer couples of day later while I was in Old Goa; I met an ASI archaeologist, so I asked him the question and he explained to me that my understanding was correct and the depiction should be called Maheshmurti, three heads Shiva, not Trimurti.

There were many other interesting and beautiful depictions in the caves, and I found the cave to be a great place to revive and test my Hinduism knowledge which I learned from my Indian friend when I was in high school especially the story of Shiva. I decided not to see other caves as I heard there was nothing much to see and I wanted to go back to Mumbai before sunset, so I walked back to the pier and ended my Elephanta Caves tour within 1.5 hour. In my opinion, Elephanta Caves should not be compared with Ellora or Ajanta, since the size of those two sites will definitely make Elephanta to be an underdog, but the Shiva depictions on Elephanta are more refined and graceful than Ellora For me Elephanta Caves is something like a small museum that possessed one great masterpiece that must see in India.