Mamallapuram

Firstly, it is not to be called by the name Mahabalipuram or 'Mahabs'- our Temple Architecture prof says with absolute scorn. It is Mamallapuram, named after the great Pallava king, Narasimhavarman who was also known as Mamallan.

Pallava architecture at its best, there are relief sculptured rock panels, cave temples, monolithic shrines and structural stone temples here.

One of the best here... Arjuna's penance panel. It is a great riddle in stone at Mamallapuram. Some say it is Arjuna’s penance, others contend it is Bhagiratha’s penance and some others believe the panel has scenes of Naga worship. It is wonderful how the same panel could be depicting one of two very prominent scenes from the epics- Arjuna doing penance to Shiva for the pashupata astra or Bhagirata doing penance to get Ganga to descend on to earth and Shiva coming down to help him Ganga descend onto his knotted locks and then to earth. The most beautiful aspect is the natural cleft in the rock panel that is used to depict the water body in the scene. When it rains, it must be beautiful to see water gushing down this cleft, bringing this whole scene alive.

The Krishna panel, depicts the Govardhanagiridhari Krishna, or Krishna lifting the Govardhana mountain to save his kinsmen from the torrential rains. This is also an interesting panel as originally it was made in a way that it seems like Krishna was lifting the rock above, which is not visible in this picture. If you visit this now, there is the additional mandapa which was added by the Vijayanagara rulers, in front of this panel.

The Pancha Pandava Rathas: Firstly, the nomenclature here is misleading as the monolithic structures have nothing to do with the panchapandavas and these so called rathas do not have wheels as well. Leaving the name aside, these are a set of 5 monolithic temples, where a huge rock has been chiselled into four cuts thus arriving into 4 pieces, the bottom is the same. The pieces are named as ‘the Draupadi ratha’, ‘the Arjuna ratha’, ‘the Bhima ratha’, ‘the Dharmaraja ratha’ and a separate one called ‘the Nakulasahadeva ratha’.

The Mahishasuramardini cave Temple: This cave temple is based on the story of Durga killing Mahishasura- the buffalo headed asura. The Mahishasuramardini panel shows Durga pulling the string of the bow just about to let go of the arrow to kill Mahisha. The sivaganas are around her and her hands are holding various weapons- the chakra, the gada, the bow and arrow, etc. She is shown on her vehicle- the lion, which also gives her the name ‘Simhavahini’.

Poetry in stones, these sculptures and architectural wonders make a visit to Mamallapuram totally worth it. There are more interesting temples and panels here, but these are my favourites, so that all you get here. :)