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Elephanta Caves

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Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally "the city of caves") in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the east of the city of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahārāshtra. The island, located offshore about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, consists of five Shaivite caves and a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BCE, as well as a small group of two Buddhist caves with water tanks.

Quotes

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  • Another pagoda, the best of all, is on an island called Pori, which we call the Isle of the Elephant. On it there is a hill and in the upper part of it is a subterranean house worked out of the living rock, and the house is as large as a monastery. Within there are courts and cisterns of good water. On the walls, all round, there are sculptured images of elephants, lions, tigers, and many human images, some like Amazons, and in many other shapes well sculptured. Certainly it is a sight well worth seeing, and it would appear that the devil had used all his powers and knowledge to deceive the gentiles into his worship. Some say that it is the work of the Chinese when they navigated to this land. It might well be true seeing that it is so well worked and that the Chinese are sutis. It is true that, at the present day, this pagoda is much defiled by cattle getting inside but in the year 1534, when I came from Portugal, it was a very fine sight. I saw it at the time when Bataim was at war with us. Soon afterwards the King of Cambaya ceded it to [Governor] Nuño da Cunha.
    • Garcia da Orta in 1534. Quoted from The Iconography and Ritual of Siva At Elephanta by Charles Collins.
  • We shall never be able to do justice to Indian art, for ignorance and fanaticism have destroyed its greatest achievements, and have half ruined the rest. At Elephanta the Portuguese certified their piety by smashing statuary and bas-reliefs in unrestrained barbarity; and almost everywhere in the north the Moslems brought to the ground those triumphs of Indian architecture, of the fifth and sixth centuries, which tradition ranks as far superior to the later works that arouse our wonder and admiration today.... Time and fanaticism joined in the destruction, for the orthodox Hindus abandoned and neglected temples that had been profaned by the touch of alien hands.
  • Now, by all odds, the most ancient extant portrait anyways purporting to the whale's is to be found in the famous cavern pagoda of Elephanta, in India .... The Hindoo whale referred to, occurs in a separate department of the wall, depicting the incarnation of Vishnu in the form ofleviathan, learnedly known as the Matse-Avatar....
  • How do you ignore history? But the nationalist movement, independence movement ignored it. You read the Glimpses of World History by Jawaharlal Nehru, it talks about the mythical past and then it jumps the difficult period of the invasions and conquests. So you have Chinese pilgrims coming to Bihar, Nalanda and places like that. Then somehow they don't tell you what happens, why these places are in ruin. They never tell you why Elephanta island is in ruins or why Bhubaneswar was desecrated.
  • Another pagoda, the best of all, is on an island called Pori [Gharapuri], which we call the Isle of the Elephant…On the walls, all round, there are sculptured images of elephants, lions, tigers, and many human images, some like Amazons, and in many other shapes well sculptured. Certainly it is a sight well worth seeing and it would appear that the devil had used all his powers and knowledge to deceive the gentiles into his worship. Some say it is the work of the Chinese when they navigated to the land. It might well be true seeing that it is so well worked.
    • a) ‘The best of all’ pagodas, Garcia da Orta [first European to record his impressions, in 1534] Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 1977, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
  • The mountain on this island which I said was opposite the Northern region, on the one side, which is a continuous cliff, is hard natural rock. Beneath the mountain a vast temple was cut and fashioned, hollowing out the living rock, a temple of such marvellous workmanship that it seems impossible for it to have been made by human hands. All the works, images, columns, reliefs, workrooms, which are there are carved in the massive stone of the mountain, all of which seems to pass beyond the bounds of nature; indeed, the proportions and the symmetry with which each figure and everything else is made would be well worth the while of any painter to study, even if he were Apelles. This temple is 35 bracas long, 25 wide and about 4 high. And what greater monument to pride could men fashion than to hollow out a very hard natural rock by means of iron and sheer tenacity, and thereby to enter into such vast spaces?
    • (b) One of the wonders of the world, Dom Joao de Castro, Viceroy of Goa [1545-1548] Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 1977, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
  • …not only the figures looked very beautiful, but the features and workmanship could be very distinctly perceived, so that neither in silver or wax could such figures be engraved with greater nicety, fineness or perfection…The From the pavement of this chapel issued a body from the waist upwards of so enormous size, that it fills the whole vacuum in length and breadth of the chapel: it has three large faces, the middle one looks to the north, the second to the west, and the other to the east. Each of these faces has two hands, and on the neck two large necklaces, wrought with considerable perfection. The figures have on their heads three very beautiful crowns.…[the interior was covered with a fine coat of lime and bitumen which] made the Pagoda so bright, that it looked very beautiful and was worth seeing.
    • (c) ‘Remarkable’ and ‘stupendous’ temple, the Mahesa-murti “curious and beautiful crown on the head,” Portuguese historian, Diego do Couto Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 1977, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
  • …and round about the wals are cut and formed, the shapes of Elephants, Lions, Tigers…Amazones and [many] other [deformed] things of divers sorts, which are all so well [and workmanlike] cut, that it is strange to behold.
    • (d) Figures so well cut, Jan Huygen van Linschoten Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 1977, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
  • Having in a Week’s time compleated my Business, returning the same way, we steered by the South side of the Bay, purposely to touch at Elephanto, so called from a monstrous Elephant cut out of the main Rock, bearing a Young one on its Back; not far from it the Effigies of an Horse stuck up to the Belly in the Earth in the Valley; from thence we clambered up the highest Mountain on the Island, on whose Summit was a miraculous Piece hewed out of solid Stone: It is supported with Forty two Corinthian Pillars, being a Square, open on all sides but towards the East; where stands a Statue with three Heads, crowned with strange Hieroglyphicks: At the North side in an high Portuco stands an Altar, guarded by Giants, and immured by a Square Wall; all along, the Walls are loaded with huge Giants, some with eight hands, making their vanquished Knights stoop for mercy. Before this is a Tank full of water, and beyond that another Place with Images. This seems to be of later date than that of Canorein [Kanheri], though defaced by the Portugals, who have this Island also…
    • (e) Miraculous work, defaced by Portuguese, John Fryer 5. John Fryer, A New Account of East India and Persia, Being Nine Years’ Travel 1672-1681, Ed., William Crooke, Asian Educational Services, 1992, vol. I, pp., 194-195 quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
  • Here likewise are the just dimensions of a Horse Carved in Stone, so lively with such a Colour and Carriage and the shape finisht with that Exactness, that many have Fancyed it, at a distance, a living Animal, than only a bare Representation....These Figures have been Erected not barely for displaying the Statuary’s skill, or gratifying the Curiosity of the Sight, but by their admirable Workmanship were more likely design’d to win upon the Admiration, and thereby gain a kind of Religious Respect from such Heathens as came near them.
    • (f) Animal sculptures fascinating, statues designed to evoke reverence, J. Ovington Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 1977, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
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