It was 15 years ago that I visited this place. Mahabalipuram is about 40 Km south of my hometown. A long vacation this time guaranteed that i visit this place amidst heavy rains and cyclones that battered Tamilnadu coast this year.
Every piece of the visit was fun. To begin with - how we got there. As usual never planned to be there but just ended up being there. My cousin brother who is so fond of his bike promised to drive me up there. The ECR (East Coast Road) that leads to Mahabalipuram was the talk of the town. And of course as expected it was well laid with reflectors, emergency phones every 10 Km and devoid of potholes etc etc. If you have the need for speed, just go there.
We reached late in the evening knowing well that the rains are expected anytime. First stop was the Five Rathas. An absolutely stunning piece of work. Named after the Pandavas, each ratha (chariot) is carved out of a single piece of rock (picturized above). As the sun sets you can see the perfect edges carved out and the geometrically accurate structures.
Then we visited the Shore temple (picturized below). I was anxious to see that as i had read in papers about the destruction caused by Tsunami (in yr 2004). Also a few years back a fountain/bathhouse was excavated next to the temple. I vaguely remembered the parks surrounding the shore temple which were now being re-created. Also a high sea wall was constructed to avoid further damage by the sea. There were boards indicating(was also in the news) that during the Tsunami, when the sea receded, more structures were revealed.
The ancient city (6th Century) of Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram (named after the Pallava King Mamalla alias name for Narasimhavarma Pallava) has several sculptures that were carved during the Pallava period - notably during Narasimhavarma's rule. The remaining sculptures are only few masterpieces of the arts and culture that prevailed in ancient Tamilnadu.More reading information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabalipuram
