¤ About Mahabalipuram
Mahabalipuram
with its picturesque location on a rocky outcrop between the beach and a
lagoon is a happy combination of history, good beaches, hassle-free tourism
and fabulous fish and lobster! Despite the many visitors, drawn by the
former Pallava dynasty town, the place is friendly, relaxed, and the
villagers are remarkably unperturbed by their crowds of visitors.
Mahabalipuram is renowned for its series of charming rathas and the
spectacular carved relief depicting Arjuna's Penance.
The
magnificent Shore Temple, built by king Rajasimha in the seventh century, is
a unique temple that houses the shrines of both Shiva and Vishnu while the
Varaha Cave is a rock-cut mandapam with two incarnations of Vishnu-Varaha
and Vamana-besides scenes of kings and queens. The Krishna Mandapam has a
bas-relief of Lord Krishna lifting the Govardhan hill in his fingertips.
Other important attractions of Mahabalipuram include the Mahishasuramardini
Cave, Kotikal Mandapam, Ramanuja Mandapam, and the Dharmaraja Cave.
¤ Major Tourist Attractions
of Mahabalipuram» Temple Of Sthalasayana Perumal -
Immediately to the north of the bigger hill there is the temple of
Sthalasayana Perumal, much enlarged in Vijayanagar times. By the very margin
of the sea, with the waves often flowing at its foot, there is a magnificent
fane with three shrines in an axial line, called the "Shore Temple".
To the west of the five Rathas there are three more rathas, two side by
side.
About 600 m north of Mahabalipuram, along the coast, is
Saluvankuppam, where there are magnificent excavated temples and, near it, a
rock Mandapa with tiger heads along its periphery, called the "Tigers
Cave". Between Saluvankuppam and Mahabalipuram, less than 200m from the
sea, stands another structural temple, the Mukunda Nayanar.
Each
and every one of these monuments of different types, structural temple,
excavated temple "cut out" temple, "open air bas relief",
not to mention sculptures and Mandapas to be found here and there, is
important and interesting. The Shore temple, the celebrated "open air
bas relief" called "Arjuna's Penance", the Mahishamardhani
and the Adivaraha "Cave" temples and the Five Rathas are the
especial rewards of the visitor. All the monuments are Pallava except that
the original Sthalasayana Perumal temple was expanded in Vijayanagar times.
To the Chola days belongs a Mandapa at the entrance to the township.
»
The Shore Temple - The Shore Temple occupies a most extraordinary
site, by the very margin of the Bay of Bengal so that at high tide the waves
sweep into it and the walls, with their sculptures, have been eroded by the
winds and waves of thirteen centuries. The European name for Mahabalipuram,
since the first western visitor wrote of it in the 16th century, is the "Seven
Pagodas". There are not seven temples here. The number has been made up
fancifully and even whimsically. Some of the Europeans believed that the sea
has overwhelmed a part of the town containing some temples. But, there is no
sunken city in the waves off Mahabalipuram. The European name, "Seven
Pagodas", is irrational and cannot be accounted for.
»
The Shrines In The Shore Temple-There are three shrines in the
Shore Temple. That facing the sea and another facing west into the township
are Saiva. The one between is Vaishnava, with an image of Lord Anantasayi
made of live rock. There are Vimanas over the Saiva (also spelt as Shaiv or
Shaiva) shrines, but none over the third; it seems to have disappeared with
time. There are Somaskanda reliefs on the walls of the Saiva shrine. In
front of the eastern shrine there is a stone dhvajastambha, frequently under
the waves. The light that shone on it at night must have been the last
sight of home for thousands of Pallava citizens immigrating to South East
Asia. The Dhvajastambha and the Balipitha, which normally stand in front of
the main shrine, are here located to the west of the shrine.
There
was a Prakara here, with small Nandis on its walls. Some of the Nandis still
stand on the survivals of the walls. Till some decades ago parts of the
temple were under sand. The sea is an ever-present danger. A semi-circular
groyne wall has been built to the east. But what is notable is the fact that
the temple has survived all these centuries. Built by Narasimha Varman II
Rajasimha, the maker of the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram in the 8th
century, this is one of the earliest structural temples in Tamil Nadu.
¤
ShoppingThere are, or rather were, two low hills in Mahabalipuram,
about 400m from the sea. In the larger one, on both sides, there are eleven
excavated temples, called Mandapas, two "open air bas reliefs",
one of which is unfinished, and a third enclosed one. Out of a big rock
standing free nearby there is a "cut out" temple, called a "Ratha".
This type is unique to Mahabalipuram. Out of the other hill, much
smaller and standing about 200m to the south, are fashioned five more
rathas, and three big sculptures of a Nandi, a Loin and an Elephant. On the
top of the bigger hill there is a structural temple, and a little distance
the magnificent beginnings of a Vijayanagar Gopura and also survivals of
what is believed to be a palace.
Mahabalipuram
