Mahadev

Mahadev

Elephanta Caves,8th Century AD

The Rashtrakuta dynasty were great builders. The Elephanta Caves, dedicated to Lord Shiva, were carved during their period. When the Portuguese came, they saw an island off the shore of Bombay, which had a sculpture of an elephant standing on the shore. Hence, the name Elephanta.

This sculpture depicts Lord Shiva in His three aspects as the creator, the maintainer, and the destroyer. He is the Supreme Being or Mahadev. The sculpture captures the eternal existence of the cosmos, where things are being created, maintained and destroyed simultaneously. The sculpture is symbolic and portrays a philosophical concept. The Europeans could not understand the deep philosophical aspect of Indian art. Seeing art from the prism of "realism", they found the Indian art as grotesque and bizzar. But these sculpture depict the essence of Indian philosophy.