The Archaeological Survey of India, Mumbai Circle's celebrated World Heritage Day at the Elephanta Caves,which is also a World Heritage Site, about 7km from the city's Eastern Waterfront. The caves can be reached by an hour's boat ride from Gateway of India as well as Navi Mumbai.
The convention of World Heritage Day was first started in 1983 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and is celebrated the world over every year on April 18.
This year, the ASI celebrated with a photo exhibition, a seminar, a special tour for students led by Dr Anita Rane-Kothare,Head of the Dept of Ancient Indian Culture and Archaeology, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, and a lively quiz on the site of the ancient caves at Elephanta aka Gharapuri Island.
In her keynote address, Dr. Usha Vijayalaxmi, Professor, Dept. of History, Patkar College,said that our ancestors built temples, tanks, forts etc, for public use with a keen sense which needs to be understood and appreciated. Ancient monuments can teach us a lot about our past socio-cultural history,she said.
Dr. Anita Rane-Kothare,Head of the Dept of Ancient Indian Culture and Archaeology, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai,
and Dr. Kurush Dalal, Director, Schóol of Archaeology INSTUCEN Trust, spoke on “Elephanta caves- Architectural Marvel” and “History of Elephanta Caves and Surroundings” respectively.
Archaeological remains excavated from the caves reveal evidence of occupation from as early as the 2nd century BC and subsequently from the 16th century Portuguese period, as witnessed, respectively, by stupas buried towards the eastern side of one of the two hillocks and a canon located at its top. The rock-cut temple caves were sculpted from the mid-5th to the 9th centuries AD.
The complex consists of five large caves embellished with huge Hindu sculptures ( notably of the Hindu god Shiva ) and two small Buddhist caves.
When the island was ceded to the Portuguese by the kings of Ahmedabad in 1534, it ceased to be a place of worship. Some of the caves and sculptures were damaged by Portuguese soldiers or ravaged by natural causes, Dr Rane-Kothari said.
In 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed Bombay in the possession of the British Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles, along with Tangier, a Moroccan port on the Strait of Gibraltar, which has been a strategic gateway between Africa and Europe since Phoenician times.
Our own Elephanta island itself was named by Portuguese navigators as Ilha Elefante (“Elephant Island”) in reference to a massive monolithic basalt sculpture of an elephant that was found there and later relocated to Victoria Gardens (now Jijamata Udyan), at Byculla in central Mumbai.
Dr. A. V. Naganoor, Assistant Superintending Archaeologist, ASI Mumbai Circle, spoke on the significance of the World Heritage Day and the role of youth in preserving heritage.
Prof Dalal said Mumbai has "more heritage and archaeological sites than any other place in the world" (from pre-historic, Rashtarakutas, Shilaharas,a 14th century solitary king, medieval Kannada inscriptions from time of the Emperor Aurangzeb, and " the most amazing Portuguese fortifications including one
in Thane jail, and a host of British monuments" including Fort St George, which was built in honour of King George III, in 1769 as an extension of the Bombay Fort, a remnant of which forms a part of Eastern Boundary wall of the St.George’s Hospital on P.D'Mello Road.
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