 One of the most mysterious places in all of India is that of the Elephanta. No one knows who created the enigmatic masterpiece found here, and despite massive destruction of artifacts during colonial rule, enough still exists here to suggest that it was achieved with higher understanding and technology that is long forgotten in this modern era. Wait, do you hear this? The Elephanta Caves found on Elephanta Island are of such stunning proportions that you could consider them on par with the Kailasa Caves and temples. Just like at Kailasa, these cave temples are dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Hewn out of solid rock, this is another example of an extreme masterpiece in India, the undertaking would have been enormous but no record of who built this or when it was built exists anywhere. The Portuguese inhabited this place in the 17th century but gave up control to the British in 1661. The island was ransacked by the English and in 1864 they tried to move a gigantic ancient elephant who gave the island its name. It used to dominate the south shore until they tried to ship it to England but instead they broke it into pieces and just left it in ruins until it was reconstructed many years later. And this story is common on the island, defaced and destroyed by India's once colonial rulers who can't help but feel angry at the amount of history that was deliberately destroyed, used as target practice and sold on the black market. The ancient history of the island is unknown in either Hindu or Buddhist records. Archaeological studies have uncovered many remains that suggest the small island had a rich culture past. The regional history is first recorded in the Gupta Empire era but these do not explicitly mention these caves. This made the origins and the century in which Elephanta Caves were built a subject of much debate and mystery. They have been variously dated, mostly between from late 5th to late 8th century but this is based on the dating of other cave temples in this region. Colonial era historians suggested the caves were built by the Rashtrakutas in the 7th century or after, a hypothesis primarily based on some similarities with the Elelora Caves. This theory however has been discredited by later findings and is a prime example of false dating of ancient historical wonders of the world. The dating of these places should be considered to be many thousands of years older than is suggested by rough guesses. The Elephanta Caves re-emerged as a center of Hindu worship and according to British administrative records the government charged the pilgrims a temple tax at least since 1872. In 1903 the Hindus petitioned the government to waive these fees which the British agreed to on three Shiva festival days if Hindus agreed. The caves were otherwise left in ruins. The largest and most significant of the caves, cave one, and it closely resembles the Dumar Lena Cave and Elelora, another world heritage site, suggesting the same device or technique may have been used in the building here. Who built these caves, no one knows. How was it done, nobody knows. When it was done, a complete mystery. We pass the Vedic texts off as mythology, but if we were to tell you that within the ancient texts there is a machine that is described as being capable of building this place by vaporizing the rock the machine is called the Baumastra. This high-tech machine would be able to quickly drill into the rock and basically vaporize it. This could change the rock into air. The device was mentioned multiple times in the ancient Vedic texts which was used to mine precious stones and metals. It is possible that the Baumastra machine described in the Vedic texts was really a technological device that existed on Earth thousands of years ago. Why wouldn't a machine exist in the distant past? If they described it then that description must have been based on something they saw in the first place so they had the idea for a machine capable of such feats. They envisioned it so why would it not be the case that this is how it was done? The Sculptive Cave system is a relic to both Hinduism and Buddhism, but the main cave symbolizes the former's influence and surrepetitiously overshadows the ladders. In fact it boasts the ten colossal sculptures of Lord Shiva. Each and every sculpture, big or small, weaves a larger story, one of the re-emergence of Hinduism. Here we are taught the importance of ancient history and the magic that is conjured when it paradoxically embraces its enemy, mythology. What do you guys think of this stunning work undertaken at this island? Comments below and thank you for watching.