Mahabalipuram - finally

As promised, the post about the Mahabalipuram trip.....The weather wasn't exactly perfect for a sightseeing trip, and we suffered mild heat exhaustion by the end of it, but it was worth the trouble.

Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram as it is also called, is a tiny hamlet about an hour's drive from Chennai on the picturesque East Coast Road ( there isn't any West Coast Road, so I'm not sure why the "East" was necessary). It's a good route, but at points along the way there are reminders of the tsunami that struck last year. You see the destroyed huts of former fishing villages, and camps set up by various national and international aid agencies. We also passed some nice looking resorts, and a big water park kind of thing.

The temples and ruins of M’puram mostly date between 6th and 8th centuries AD. All local granite, some made into bas-reliefs and some into monolithic "caves". Arjuna’s Penance is the best and most famous of the friezes, and a very good specimen of the Pallava work. A large number of “Manadapams” are also scattered around it.

Then there are the 5 Rathas – each dedicated to one of the Pandava brothers. The first of the lot is quite crude and shows not much ornamentation, and you can clearly see the improvement in workmanship as we move to subsequent Rathas. Apparently work on these Rathas was stopped after the death of the king Narsinhvarman.

The pride of place belongs to the Shore Temple, a World Heritage Site. Apparently, it is the earliest known example of a stone temple in South India. It stands bang on the beach like a lonely sentinel, and makes a pretty picture. The interesting thing is, the entire temple wasn’t made at the same time. Apparently in the beginning there was just a small shrine with a monolithic reclining Vishnu and a large but somewhat crude Shivling (I’m still not sure which of the two came first). Later on the larger temple structure came up, along with a compound that contained water tanks etc and was surrounded by a wall on which sit several granite Nandis. Apparently the ships coming towards the port at that time used to set their courses by the temple. There’s a lighthouse not far from there as well.

It must have looked impressive from afar, standing guard on the shore of this former royal port. You can still sense some of that awe-inspiring quality, but unfortunately there’s been a lot of erosion of the stone by the salt-laden winds. We did see some restoration work going on, though. I would have loved to see the site where the other, apparently bigger temple has now been discovered after the tsunami. However it’s not open to visitors, as they’re still digging it up.

There are the usual hawkers pestering you with stuff you’ll never want to buy, and one man even followed us around for a while because he was convinced we needed a guide, but the harassment really is of the manageable kind. I’ve seen much, much worse in Agra…..

We ended the trip with a stop at Taj Fisherman’s Cove for lunch and some much needed liquid restoratives…Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to Dakshinachitra, which is less than a kilometer away from this resort. Apparently, typical wooden houses from all 4 southern states have been transported here and then re-assembled to create a beautiful multi-cultural South Indian crafts village. Well maybe next time…

I would recommend Mahabalipuram to anyone who’s visiting Chennai. In fact if one is driving to Pondicherry from Chennai, you can easily stop here for a couple of hours. Just remember to get a sun-hat, lots of sunscreen, and yeah, as much water as you can carry !!