Elephanta

 

Sadashiv stares at us

With closed eyes

‘Uma, you whisper’ in the cave,

‘The Creator;

Rudra – the indignant, the destroyer

And the balance, in the middle –

Tatpurush, calm and quiet;

Can you feel the flow of life?

Creation, preservation, destruction,

Past, present, future,

That wasn’t, that is, that will be…’

You explain the gods as if

You were there

When they were born

Or when they were

Revered out of stone here

 

You who like stories

Would love this flow,

But I am a poor man,

Who has no epics to narrate

I have no rivers to guide,

I sit in my tiny meadow

And look at blades of grass

On sunny days

‘Why do you need this circle?’

I protest

‘Why this ebb and rise

Why can’t we merely exist?

None of past or future

But timelessness, without a cage

We are just there, a boat

Floating, in a sea of eternal chaos’

 

You stare at me

The ignorant unread one,

How can he be so wise?

Perhaps the wisdom

Is eternal, deep seated

‘Ýou speak of His hidden faces

That which stay away from us

Thinking, contemplating

Looking inward

Unseen by curious eyes

Staring at nothingness.’

Ah, the Panchmakukhi Lord

What an allegory of riches,

But I am a poor man

I sit in my tiny meadow

And celebrate a single blade of grass…

 

18^th Jan 2026

 

At the heart of the Elephanta Caves stands the majestic Sadashiva Mahamurti, a colossal rock-cut sculpture embodying Shiva’s cosmic completeness through five metaphysical aspects, though only three faces are visibly carved. The central, serene face represents Tatpurusha, the timeless, meditative essence of Shiva—stillness at the core of existence. To the right emerges Aghora or Rudra, fierce and transformative, symbolising destruction not as violence but as necessary dissolution. To the left is Vamadeva or Uma, gentle and graceful, expressing creation, beauty, and compassion. The remaining two faces—Ishana (divine consciousness) and Sadyojata (the generative force)—are believed to exist beyond the sculpted stone, implied rather than shown, reminding the devotee that the divine ultimately transcends form. Together, the Mahamurti becomes not merely a sculpture, but a philosophical vision of balance: creation, preservation, destruction, concealment, and grace unified in one eternal presence.