The Mahabalipuram is UNESCO Heritage site in South India.
This Place is very famous for Group of Monuments. The monuments are mostly
rock-cut and monolithic, and constitute the early stages of Dravidian
architecture wherein Buddhist elements of design are prominently visible. They
are constituted by cave temples, monolithic rathas (chariots), sculpted
reliefs and structural temples. The pillars are of the Dravidian order. The
sculptures are excellent examples of Pallava art.
This site is located near Chennai, India and 58 km
towards Pondicherry. But better we should choose the direct air-conditioned
Volvo services from Chennai Bus Stand. On the traveling we may trouble with
city traffic but after feels a heart filling scene both sides. Salt field,
beach everything is enjoyable.
Mahabalipuram was a 7th century port city of the South
Indian dynasty of the Pallavas. The name Mamallapuram is believed to have been
given after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, who took on the epithet
Maha-malla (great wrestler), as the favourite sport of the Pallavas was
wrestling. It has various historic monuments built largely between the 7th and
the 9th centuries, and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The monuments are mostly rock-cut and monolithic, and constitute the early
stages of Dravidian architecture wherein Buddhist elements of design are
prominently visible. They are constituted by cave temples, monolithic rathas
(chariots), sculpted reliefs and structural temples. The pillars are of the
Dravidian order. The sculptures are excellent examples of Pallava art
The
monuments may be subdivided into five categories:
Ratha temples in the form of processional chariots,
monolithic constructions cut into the residual blocks of diorite which emerge
from the sand. The five ratha of the south, which are the most famous,
date to the reign of Naharasimhavarman Mamalla (630-68), the great Pallavas
king (the Cholas texts, moreover, call the city Mamallapuram).
mandapa, or rock sanctuaries modelled as rooms covered with
bas-reliefs (the mandapa of Varaha, representing the acts of this avatar
of Vishnu; the mandapa of the Five Pandavas and, especially, the mandapa
of Krishna and the mandapa of Mahishasuramardini).
rock reliefs in the open air illustrate a popular
episode in the iconography of Siva, that of the Descent of the Ganges. The wise
King Baghirata having begged him to do so, Siva ordered the Ganges to descend
to Earth and to nourish the world. The sculptors used the natural fissure
dividing the cliff to suggest this cosmic event to which a swarming crowd of
gods, goddesses, mythical beings (Kinnara, Gandherya, Apsara, Gana, Naga and
Nagini), wild and domestic animals bear witness.
temples built from cut stone, like the Temple of
Rivage, which was constructed under King Rajasimha Narasimavarmn II (695-722),
with its high-stepped pyramidal tower and thousands of sculptures dedicated to
the glory of Siva.
monolithic rathas, from single- to
triple-storeyed, display a variety of architectural forms, while the
Dharmaraja, Arjuna and Draupadi rathas are square in plan, the Bhima and Ganesa
rathas rectangular, and the Sahadeva ratha apsidal. Structural
architecture was introduced on a grand scale by Pallava Rajasimha (700-28),
culminating in the erection of the Shore Temple.
Thanks:Wikipedia.org
