Parel Relief

The Parel Relief, or Parel Shiva, is a monolithic slab showing Shiva seven times, which the Archaeological Survey of India places in the late Gupta period (5th or 6th century AD). Road works in 1931 uncovered it in Parel, formerly one of Bombay's Seven Islands; apparently at the urging of a crowd, it was then taken to the nearby Baradevi Temple, where it is worshipped in a room of its own.

About 3 to 3.5 metres high, the slab shows a standing central Shiva with six overlapping figures emerging around it, all two-armed except the topmost, which has ten. Small gana figures, musicians and guardians, fill the lower part, and some areas look unfinished. It dates from roughly the same time as the Elephanta reliefs across the harbour and resembles work from the Shamlaji Caves in Gujarat. Protected since 1985, the room is reportedly opened only during Navaratri, though the relief can be viewed through metal screens at other times.