Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

Mamallapuram (also called Mahabalipuram) is a village 60 km south of Chennai (Madras) at the Coromandel Coast in the south Indian state Tamilnadu. Here one of the most important archeological discovery sites of south India is found. The temple district of Mamallapuram has belonged since 1985 to the UNESCO world cultural heritage.

The temples that were erected at the beach on rock emerged between 5th and 8th century under the rule of the Pallava dynasty. They were chiseled out of rocks. During this time, Mamallapuram was one of the most important harbor cities of the total Tamil empire.

On the chiseled rock relief, legends, myths and everyday life scenes are represented. Many of these relief decomposed in part today under the influence of the sea climate. In some of the temples, stand Gods sculptures and animal sculptures. Many buildings remained however unfinished. After the downfall of the Tamil empire, Shivaism spread, that is why most of the holy towers are dedicated to Hindu God Shiva. The temple district has a large number of Hindu monuments, which are dedicated to God Shiva and Vishnu and to Krishna, the hero of the Epic Mahabharata. The three most important are: The Penance of the Arjuna, the Shore Temples and the Pancha Ratha (temples in the form of chariots).

The penance of Arjuna is the base relief comprising of two gigantic rocks measuring 27 meters long by 9 meters high. The figure of Arjuna, hero of epic Mahabharata, chiseled out of a rock and shows him in the form of practicing penance in order to get the boon from God Shiva, which could help him while fighting the war of Mahabharata.

This relief also called The Descent of Ganges, because of the story it depicts. The legend reports that the king Bhagiratha let the flow of Ganges River from the heaven in order to purify the souls of his ancestors and to overcome the scarcity of water on the earth. However, the things did not happen as planned and the king noticed that the Ganges would flood the entire earth. Therefore, he practiced penance with the goal of receiving aid of Shiva, in order to turn away the catastrophe to be expected. Therefore, the God came down to the earth and conquered the Ganges, in which he let the Ganges flow through his hairs.

The most famous part of the base relief is the slit between both the rocks; here the image of Shiva is found. Under that, one finds ruins of a water tank that let assumed, that once here water flowed, that should represent the Ganges . Next to numerous divine images, the relief represents the village life of India in the 7th century. In the upper part, right of the slit, one sees the donor and patron Pallava king Mahendravarman (580-630) accompanying his three wives.

The shore temple is the only preserved temple out of a complex of seven temples that were built at the end of the 8th century by the Pallava king Rajasimha Narasimhavarman II. The complex should have covered 10 kilometers along the coast. These temples lie on the main coast. Temple is surrounded by a row of bulls carved out of rock. There are two shrines in the temple, of which one is dedicated to Shiva and the other to Vishnu.

The five Ratha (temples in the form of chariots), named after the heroes of great epic Mahabharatha - Yudhisthira (or Dharmaraja), Bhima, Arjuna, Draupadi and Nakula-Sahadeva, are the monolithic monuments of different size and forms, excavated out of a small hill south of the village. The concept Ratha actually denotes the vehicles for procession. The Ratha of Mamallapuram have however no wheels, in contrast to the Sun temple in Konark, that is formed in form of a vehicle with wheels, pulled by horses.

Today Mahabalipuram is a peaceful small town with its clean beaches. Visitors and tourists come here not only to explore the world cultural heritage sites but also to relax at the beach resorts.