{"id":71142,"date":"2026-04-09T18:31:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=71142"},"modified":"2026-04-09T18:33:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:03:20","slug":"elephanta-caves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/09-04-2026\/elephanta-caves","title":{"rendered":"Elephanta Caves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ History and Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A major excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on<strong> Elephanta Island<\/strong> has revealed a 1,500-year-old stepped reservoir.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Features of the Stepped Reservoir<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The excavated structure is a<strong> T-shaped stepped reservoir,<\/strong> indicating a planned architectural design.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The reservoir measures about <strong>14.7 metres in length<\/strong>, with widths varying between<strong> 6.7 metres and 10.8 metres.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The excavation has reached a <strong>depth of five metres<\/strong>, exposing <strong>20 well-aligned steps<\/strong> made of stone blocks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"9b7f57\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-57.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-71144\" style=\"--dominant-color: #9b7f57; width:446px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-57.png 640w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-57-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Elephanta Caves<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Elephanta Caves, located on Elephanta Island (historically known as Gharapuri, meaning \u201ccity of caves\u201d), are a <strong>UNESCO World Heritage Site <\/strong>situated in Mumbai Harbour.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>name \u201cElephanta\u201d<\/strong> was given by the<strong> Portuguese in the 16th century<\/strong> after they discovered a large stone elephant near the island, while the <strong>original name Gharapuri <\/strong>was used by local inhabitants.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Historically, the island was associated with multiple dynasties.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Kalachuris of Mahishmati <\/strong>are considered the main patrons of the caves during the 6th century CE, as supported by recent coin discoveries of <strong>King Krishnaraja.<\/strong> Before them, the Konkan Mauryas ruled the region, followed by the <strong>Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas <\/strong>who maintained its importance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are seven caves, of which Cave 1 (Great Cave) is the most prominent. It houses the iconic 20-feet <strong>Trimurti sculpture.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A three-headed figure representing Shiva as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"6a675c\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #6a675c;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-56.png\" alt=\"elephanta caves\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-71143\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The caves are carved out of<strong> basalt rock of the Deccan Trap formation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/society\/history-and-culture\/steps-into-past-1500-year-old-reservoir-unearthed-on-elephanta-island\/article70839592.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> A major excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Elephanta Island has revealed a 1,500-year-old stepped reservoir. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Key Features of the Stepped Reservoir <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The excavated structure is a T-shaped stepped reservoir, indicating a planned architectural design. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The reservoir measures about 14.7 metres in length, with widths varying between 6.7 metres and 10.8 metres. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The excavation has reached a depth of five metres, exposing 20 well-aligned steps made of stone blocks. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/09-04-2026\/elephanta-caves \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71147,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71142\/revisions\/71147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}