Home » Elephanta Caves, Mumbai

The Elephanta Caves – III

16 November 2007 12 Comments

It is believed that the caves were used as target practice after they constructed a fort and put a flag to ward off pirates. Whatever the cause may be, many of the sculptures have been desecrated. From the Portuguese, the Britishers captured the island and used it for the same purpose.

Canon Hill
As I said earlier, the island consists of two hillocks. Your trip to Elephanta Island would be incomplete without a small climb up to Cannon Hill – aptly named because of the cannons strategically perched on top of the hill. The climb is quite risky at times with slippery mud steps (sometimes just a slope) and hill on one side and sea on the other. I slipped off 4-5 times in spite of donning proper shoes. We had to cross one hill and go to another one.

The cannons are cleverly camouflaged by the surrounding greenery and they must have probably been a very effective weapon in keeping out attackers.

One of the cannons in all its glory. The dais can actually turn a full circle thereby giving a 360° field of attack.

The sturdy base of the cannon. There’s a staircase leading downstairs and into a maze of rooms probably meant for storing shells for the cannon and other artillery. Passageways cut into the hill were probably used as escape routes.

While coming back we took the mini train, on the side one can see ladies selling cucumbers and other snacks for people who walk down the distance.

Took the ferry & headed towards Gateway of India. This is one of my favourite pictures. :)
As always, you can see more pictures on my web album. Yet to upload all.
Technorati Tags:

Posts related to this entry which might interest you :-

 


12 Comments »

  • backpakker said:

    oh wow ! all your posts on the caves brought back such a surge of memories ..I went there while I was studying ..no pics , just memories :)

    # 17 November 2007 at 8:20 AM
  • Sameera said:

    Another set of really informative and appealing pics!Great work dear :)

    # 17 November 2007 at 7:10 PM
  • niki yokota said:

    ooouch!! cannon ball hit me.
    wat magnificient views!!

    # 18 November 2007 at 2:13 PM
  • Mridula said:

    Lovely pictures Cuckoo, I can see that I have missed up on a lot of posts!

    # 18 November 2007 at 5:17 PM
  • AJEYA RAO said:

    Lovely pics cuckoo, i recalled my trip there. i enjooyed the ferry and the walk till the caves. but i remember we had some trouble finding good food.

    # 19 November 2007 at 3:29 PM
  • Ankur Gupta said:

    आपकी कमेंट मैने अपने ब्लाग पर पाई. आपके प्रोफ़ाइल मे आपका ब्लाग पता मिला. एक हिंदी मे भी ब्लाग बनाइये तो और भी अच्छा रहे. हो सके तो अपने इन्ही ब्लाग्स को हिंदी मे भी उपलब्ध कराइये.

    # 19 November 2007 at 3:32 PM
  • Priyank said:

    When I read part 1 and 2, I was wondering if you went to this part of the island. Not many people do :) chitr chaan aahe!

    # 19 November 2007 at 3:50 PM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Backpakker,
    Thank you.

    Sameera,
    Oh, thank you. Sameera, have you gone thru some of my archived posts ? Some of them are very interesting. Try to read.

    Niki,
    Thank you nikichan.

    Mridula,
    Thank you. :-) Yes, you are coming here after a long period.

    # 20 November 2007 at 7:35 PM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Ajeya,
    Yes, Ferry ride is the best part of this trip. And you are right. Finding good food is a problem there. Also, the monkeys.

    Ankur,
    बड़े मुश्किल में डाल दिया आपने तो | कोई platform तो बताइए जहाँ मैं अपनी यात्रा विवरण छाप सकूं |

    यहाँ आने के लिए धन्यवाद, आते रहिये .. लुत्फ़ उठाते रहिये | :-)

    Priyank,
    Thank you. Oh I am that tough nutty.. wouldn’t have left that part unless other factors pull me down. ;)

    chitr chaan aahe!.. Dhanyawaad. :-)

    # 20 November 2007 at 7:41 PM
  • Sigma said:

    Oh! That certainly is news to me :-) Perhaps I didn’t have sufficient time to go into the history on my short visit :-) I returned just after seeing the caves. The climb was difficult but the real trouble was the monkeys!

    # 2 December 2007 at 7:01 AM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Sigma,
    Yes, many people return after seeing the caves, the climb uphill is quite difficult with on one side the hill and other being sea and monkeys attacking you from the rest. :-)

    # 14 December 2007 at 1:22 PM
  • Kanan said:

    Nice photos! I like them :)
    Took me back to the time when I visited the place a few months back.

    # 8 September 2008 at 7:27 AM

Leave your response!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

CommentLuv Enabled

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.