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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

The Elephant of Elephanta

The first time I visited the Elephanta caves, I remember being told that the caves were so named because the island on which they stood resembled an elephant. It was only much later that I learnt that the name came, not from the imagined shape of the island, but from the sculpture of an elephant which once stood at the jetty welcoming visitors to the island.



The elephant sculpture was probably  installed by the kings who built the cave temples, but they were first noticed and mentioned by the Portuguese invaders.


When the British arrived, they tried to take the elephant back with them to England, but the crane carrying the sculpture broke and it shattered. The pieces were brought to the gardens we now know as Jijamata Udyan in Byculla, where they were put together.



And that is where the elephant stands today. At the Jijamata Udyan in Byculla, just outside the Bhau Daji Lad Museum.


Today, the Elephanta caves is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The elephant deserves to be part of that distinction too. Unfortunately, its state probably prevents it from being restored to its original site. However, it is worth making a trip to Jijamata Udyan to see this relic of our history.

P.S.
Knowing all this still doesn't stop me from looking out for the imaginary elephant shape of the island every time I visit Elephanta!! How the stories of our childhood stay back with us!

Comments

  1. I never knew about this, I too was still fascinated with those stories...!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Santosh! these stories are the only things we remember sometimes :D

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  2. I hardly have explored Mumbai so I thoroughly enjoyed reading this bit.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Mridula! guess its high time u come to Mumbai... and there are lots of us here all set to help you explore!

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  3. Dint know that. Thanks for sharing this Anu.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

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  4. The Elephant of Elephant, now the Elephant of Bhau Daji Lad Museum, is quite something. And in spite of its rather squat proportions looks quite real.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Sudha.. its now the elephant of the museum.. and yes, at first i was a bit surprised to see how squat it appeared. but it did look rather real, too.. once i had got used to it!

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