There is a shrine to the right of the cave. There are a bunch of guardians carved into the rock around it. The shrine itself, in the center, is a simple cylindrical pillar about a meter and a half high. People burn candles on it and leave flowers around it. The pillar is called a lingam, and is the phallic form of Shiva (or somebody). This makes me giggle disrespectfully.

There are a bunch of other cool statues and carvings around the cave. I am now reading a book called “Ka” which retells the stories of Hindu mythology, so soon I will understand what Shiva and co are up to in the pictures. Whatever they are doing, it seems to involve a lot of dancing. Also, Shiva has a legion of dwarf helpers. He leans on them occasionally in the sculpture. That seems really random to me.

Many of the beautiful carvings have arms and legs missing or are badly damaged in other ways. When the Portuguese were in charge the soldiers came out to Elephanta and used the carvings for target practice. Idiots.

The name Elephanta is from the Portuguese for, well, for Elephant. There used to be a stone statue of an Elephant on the island, but it fell apart in 1814. It was reconstructed a while ago and is in some museum now.

(I feel a little like I am doing a 3rd grade report on Elephanta Island. All the info I have here is cribbed from the guidebooks, so it is like what passes for research when you are in 3rd grade. Need to write a report on the habits of the opossum? the life of Mark Twain? industries in Africa? Global warming? Weaving? Pie? Pull out the encyclopedia and paraphrase the entry. Maybe I should just go to Wikipedia and cut and paste the entry on Elephanta Island.)