Mandapeshwar Caves (Mumbai)

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Mandapeshwar main temple with overgrown church ruins from Portuguese times

The two Mandapeshwar caves ( Marathi मंडपेश्वर गुंफा ) belong to the largely unknown Hindu cave temples in the vicinity of Mumbai ( India ) and are therefore rarely visited by foreign tourists .

Toponym

The name Mandapeshwar is derived from the Sanskrit words mandap pe Ishwar , which roughly translates as "Hall of the Paintings of God" - Shiva is meant ; but there is no trace of paintings (any more).

location

The Mandapeshwar Caves are located in the rocky and protected forest area of ​​the Sanjay Gandhi National Park of Borivali in the coastal foothills of the Western Ghats, not far from the old trade routes between the highlands of the Deccan and the coastal foreshore or the 40 or so port cities that were already known in antiquity km northeast of today's center of Mumbai. The caves are not far from the Buddhist Kanheri caves . The Borivali Railway Station is easy to reach with suburban trains; the remaining 3 km to the east is best done by taxis or motor rickshaws.

Dating

Due to the lack of inscriptions, stylistic clues were crucial for dating the caves to the late Gupta period (6th century). The wall relief of the dancing god Shiva ( nataraja ) was probably made in the 7th or 8th century.

description

The larger of the two caves ( main shrine ) has a forecourt with a small shrine carved out of the left rock wall. The approximately 10 m wide vestibule ( mandapa ), separated by four full columns and two half-columns , has two further - slightly elevated - chambers on the narrow sides; on the back wall of the left chamber are the remains of a large relief of the dancing god Shiva ( nataraja ) carved out in the 7th or 8th century with several accompanying figures, which is similar to that of Elephanta . In the back wall is the main chamber ( garbhagriha ), which is raised by stairs ; to the side of this there are two further shrines with almost 4 × 4 m square antechambers. The other side chambers also have figure reliefs, but they are in a very poor state of preservation. While the four pillars of the courtyard from rainwater almost strongly leached, which also damaged pillars in the temple inside after all, still their elaborate have amalaka - capitals .

Above the larger cave are the partially overgrown ruins of a church built by the Portuguese in 1544, which was built from rubble stones. A Latin cross is carved out of a side wall of the temple below , so that one must assume that the Portuguese also used the temple's vestibule for mass ceremonies at times.

The smaller of the two caves has not been completed; there is a vestibule ( mandapa ), but a ' cella ' ( garbhagriha ) is missing. The walls inside the vestibule and the pillars in the entrance area are completely unworked and unadorned.

  • Side chamber of the main cave

  • 'Cella' ( garbhagriha ) of the main cave

  • Shiva nataraja in the main cave

See also

In the coastal foothills of the Western Ghats north of Mumbai there are further cave monasteries and rock temples:

Buddhist

Hindu

literature

  • James Fergusson, James Burgess: The Cave Temples of India. Munshiram Manoharlal. New Delhi (1880), ISBN 81-215-0251-9 .
  • Kanaiyalal H. Vakil: Rock-cut temples around Bombay at Elephanta and Jogeshwari, Mandapeshwar and Kanheri. DB Taraporevala & Sons, Bombay 1932.
  • Soundara Rajan, KV: Cave Temples of the Deccan. Archaeological Survey of India . New Delhi 1981.
  • Dulari Qureshi: Rock-cut Temples of Western India. Bharatiya Kala Prakashan. Delhi 2010, ISBN 978-81-8090-202-4 .

Web links

Commons : Mandapeshwar Caves (Mumbai)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 19 ° 14 '  N , 72 ° 53'  E