Elephanta Island & Caves site features

Cave 1 extends about 39 metres from its front entrance to the rear. Excluding the porticoes and back aisle, the principal hall is approximately 27 metres square, its ceiling held by repeated rows of six columns.

A square linga shrine stands inside the hall, with four doorways guarded by carved figures. Around it, fifteen large reliefs create a sequence of Shiva's forms and stories.

Opposite the north entrance, the seven-metre Sadashiva emerges from the wall with three visible faces. Its scale is read against the human-height doorway and column grid, not as an isolated statue.

Cave 1

Mid-5th–6th centuries. The 39-metre-deep principal cave combines columned hall, shrine and monumental reliefs.

Sadashiva

Mid-5th–6th centuries. A seven-metre relief presents three visible aspects of Shiva on the hall's main axis.

The linga shrine

Mid-5th–6th centuries. A freestanding square sanctuary with entrances on four sides occupies the hall.

The major relief cycle

Mid-5th–6th centuries. Panels including Nataraja, Ardhanarishvara and Gangadhara surround the central sacred space.

Island archaeology

From the 2nd century B.C. onward. Buried stupas and later Portuguese-period remains extend the story beyond Cave 1.