Mumbai (Bombay)
Mumbai is formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai ranks among the most populous cities in the world in terms of population, with population of approximately 14 million and along with the neighboring urban areas, which includes cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is counted as one of the largest urban regions of the world. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbor. As of 2009, Mumbai was named an Alpha world city.The seven islands that came to constitute Bombay were home to communities of fishing colonies. For centuries, the islands came under the control of successive kingdoms and indigenous empires before being ceded to Portuguese settlers and subsequently to the British East India Company. Bombay as the capital. It was renamed Mumbai in 1995.
Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment centre of India, generating 5% of India’s GDP, Mumbai is home to important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. The city also houses India’s Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood.
Elephanta Caves
The Elephanta Caves are a great tourist attraction in the vicinity of the large Mumbai meteropolis. The Elephanta island is located 10 km away from the Gateway of India at Mumbai. These caves house rock cut temples dating back to the 5th century CE.
The Elephanta island was so named by the Portuguese, after the statue of an elephant near the landing area of the island. These rock cut temples dedicated to Shiva Mahadeva are rich in sculptural content. Motorboats take passengers from Appollo Bunder near the Gateway of India. .
This rock cut temples were created by carving out rock, and creating the columns, the internal spaces and the images. The entire temple is akin to a huge sculpture, through whose corridors and chambers one can walk. The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Some of the rock surfaces are highly finished while some are untreated bare rock.
The entire cave temple complex covers an area of about 60000 square feet and it consists a main chamber and two lateral ones , courtyards and several subsidiary shrines. Above the temple is the mass of natural rock.
