Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta Caves are Mumbai's great day trip by boat. Official ASI timings and entry fees are below, along with tips for the ferry and the climb to the Great Cave.

The Elephanta Caves are a group of rock-cut temples on Elephanta Island (Gharapuri) in Mumbai Harbour, about 11 km east of the Gateway of India. The island has five Hindu caves, two Buddhist caves and some Buddhist stupa mounds dating to the 2nd century BCE. The main Hindu caves were hewn from solid basalt, and most scholars date them to between the 5th and 7th centuries CE.

Cave 1, the Great Cave, is the highlight: a pillared hall laid out on a mandala plan with large relief panels of Shiva legends. The best known is the 5.45-metre Trimurti Sadashiva, a three-faced Shiva; other panels show Shiva as Nataraja and Yogishvara, the Gangadhara story, Shiva as Lakulisa, and Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa.

Much of the sculpture was damaged over the centuries, and the Portuguese, who named the island after a stone elephant they found there, ended its use as a place of worship. The site is now protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ferries leave from the Gateway of India; from the island jetty it is a walk and a climb of stone steps, lined with stalls, up to the caves.

Carry water and wear comfortable shoes, as the steps can be hot in the afternoon. The monument is closed on Mondays, and ferries do not serve it that day. Allow most of a day including the boat ride.