Elephanta
an island over 4 miles in circuit, in the harbor of Bombay, 6 miles E. of the city, and 4 miles from the mainland. It owed its European name to a large figure of an elephant which stood near its former landingplace, but which, after 1814, gradually sank into a shapeless mass. Of the island's far-famed Brahmanic rockcaves, four are complete, or nearly so; the most important is the Great Temple, still used by the Hindus on Sivaite festivals. The word is also used to designate the thunder storm that marks the end of the rainy season in the region around Bombay, India.