There are some wonderful Hindu carvings in the cave temples of Elephanta Island, and a particularly fine pillared hall.
We took the first ferry of the day, a Tuesday, from behind the Gateway of India - we'd heard that weekends are best avoided because of the crowds. We opted for the luxury boat but not sure what the difference is, and paid 10 IRP extra to go up on the top deck. From the ferry you get the best view of the Gateway and the Taj Hotel.
The crossing takes about an hour and when you arrive you can take a little tourist train to cross the long jetty - we opted to walk. At the end the stalls begin, though at this time few were populated, and they line the path and steps all the way up to the entrance to the cave complex. Mercifully the route is quite shaded.
There are five Hindu caves that most people visit and two older Buddhist caves that are more difficult to get to.
The Hindu caves date back to around 500 A.D. The first cave that you come to, Cave 1, is by far the most impressive. A wide, dark pillared hall is surrounded by carvings of Shiva and his wife Parvathi.
On the wall far into the cave opposite the entrance is a three-headed Shiva called Mahesh. The eyes of the god seem closed in all three manifestations, and the aspect of the front-facing Shiva is very serene.
For me the most intriguing of the sculpture groups is a dual carving of Shiva and his wife Parvathi, to the left of the Mahesh. Called Ardhanarishvara it represents the duality of life and is very cleverly carved. Shiva is on the left, Parvathi on the right. One of Shiva's hands rests on the head of Nandi, the scared bull and Shiva's mount.
After Cave 1 the caves are much less impressive.
Cave 2 is little more than a portico, though Cave 3 has a fine pillared entrance leading to a large space with a central carving.
All that can be seen of unfinished Cave 5 is a low ragged hole in the cliff face with a jumbled space beyond.
We got the first ferry back - they only start at around midday - to lunch at the Taj Hotel!
Two days relaxation - unheard of! But since Andrew was at a conference, and I couldn't face the Mumbai traffic again, even with a private car and driver, I decided to go with the flow and enjoy the location.
The Sea Princess Hotel is right on the beach which is a beautiful sweep of golden sand. The hotel is walled with a locked gate leading onto the beach and ever-present security, although I felt quite safe walking there.
Sadly a lot of rubbish is washed up by the tide - the sea must be full of it. There is a cleaning crew out every morning, though, collecting as much as they can, and one day I even saw a party of school children litter-picking. As well as a great service, hopefully it will stop them tossing litter themselves; at other times I saw youngsters discarding sweet wrappers, empty food packets, spent party fireworks - not seeming to realise that most will not degrade quickly, if at all, and just builds up.
On the second morning I took a long walk, first north then south along the beach to a jetty where small fishing boats were tied up. The cleaners had already been over the northern beach which was looking good; they were working their way south. Women dragged plastic bowls behind them and picking up litter, men raked the beach, and an overseer sat on the tractor/groomer busy on his mobile.
Where they were yet to clean there was an awful lot of rubbish, mostly brought in on the tide I think, including many brightly coloured cloths. I was told by a friend later that these would originally have wrapped statues on offerings which the people float out to sea.
