Which of the following features distinguishes the Elephanta Caves from other rock-cut sites of early India?

Correct — B. NCERT's Class XI textbook An Introduction to Indian Art says the Elephanta Caves are dominated by the Shaivite faith, and that their sculptures show slenderness in the body with stark light and dark effects.

That is option (b) in other words: Shiva themes, and depth carved out of light and shadow. The showpiece, per UNESCO, is the 7-metre Sadashiva at the entrance of Cave 1, showing three aspects of Shiva.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  They are primarily Buddhist caves with large stupas. — Elephanta's great caves are Hindu and centre on Shiva. UNESCO does record buried stupas on the eastern side of a hillock there, but the Buddhist chaitya halls NCERT lists are at Ajanta, Pitalkhora and Bhaja.
• (c)
  They contain a mix of Jain and Vaishnavite depictions in pillar halls. — The Jain strand belongs to Ellora, which NCERT describes as having Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jain caves. The Elephanta reliefs UNESCO names, from Sadashiva and Nataraja to Ardhanarishwara and Gangadhara, are all forms of Shiva.
• (d)
  The caves are entirely monolithic structures from the Mauryan period. — The date is wrong. UNESCO places the caves at about the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD, long after the Mauryas. NCERT's Mauryan example is the Lomus Rishi cave in the Barabar hills of Bihar.

Early Indian rock-cut sites are told apart mainly by faith and date.

NCERT's Mauryan example is the Lomus Rishi cave at Barabar in Bihar, which it says Ashoka donated to the Ajivikas.

Buddhist sites such as Ajanta and Bhaja follow, built around chaitya halls and monasteries. Ellora mixes Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jain caves from the fifth century CE onwards.

Elephanta, on Gharapuri island near Mumbai, is Brahmanical and Shaiva, of about the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD. UNESCO singles out the huge high reliefs of its main cave.

Key facts

• The Elephanta Caves, on Elephanta (Gharapuri) island near Mumbai, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
• UNESCO dates the rock-cut caves to about the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD.
• The 7-metre Sadashiva relief at the entrance of Cave 1 shows three aspects of Shiva.
• NCERT calls Elephanta contemporary with Ellora and dominated by the Shaivite faith.

Common traps

• Rejecting option (d) for the word monolithic, when the real error is the Mauryan date.
• Assuming every western Deccan cave site is Buddhist because Ajanta and Karla are.

No directly related past PYQ was found.