Mandapeshwar includes a couple of rough-hewn side caves and a more finished main cave with three rooms flanked by two large alcoves. The central room is an active site of Hindu worship. It contains a linga, or a phallic representation of the god Shiva, but it is not original. The original 1,500-year-old linga was long ago chiseled down to nothing by either vandals or Catholics, who have used the site as a crypt or chapel on and off since the Portugese ruled the area in the fourteenth century. The Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church on the ridge above the cave claims Mandapeshwar as its own.  Next >>