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Published: June 23rd 2017
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Geo: 12.6264, 80.1722
Mahaballipuram
Mahabalipuram is A World Heritage town 60km, south of Chennai and was once a port of the Pallavas, During the 6th and 7th centuries, the Pallavas created many marvellous monuments with Sculptural Panels, Caves, Monolithic Rathas (chariots) and Temples which were chiselled out of the rocks emphasising the earthly beauty.
When we arrived at our hotel in Mahabalipuram, we were welcomed warmly with shell garlands which were really nice, our room overlooked the lovely beach, which is nestled on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. We all got changed and went to the sea for a dip/ swim, the sea water was warm and soothing as we had been on the road for few days now.
I was having the most wonderful time here as this beach is really nice, in the evening we all dressed up and made an effort for dinner today which was brilliant as usual with huge varieties of both Indian and western cuisine. We were entertained with live Indian classical music while we ate, some of us went for walk on the beach to see the sunset and we agreed to wake up early for the sunrise.
Next morning I managed to wake up early for the sunrise which was beautiful and made it worthwhile for waking up early as most people decided to lie in late. After a huge breakfast we set off to see the Ancient Shore Temple and Monuments.
The Shore temple
The Shore temple is preserved as a World Heritage Site and belongs to the early 7th century AD, the Shore temple is the best surviving Pallava temple in Mamallapuram out of a complex of seven temples, overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The rest have been washed by the sea, the Shore temple is also the oldest temples in south India and is a good example of the first phase of structural temples constructed in Dravidian style. The architecture is stunning with its outer sculpture worn by wind, sea, rain and time while the inner shrines retain the details. Shore temple is a five-storeyed structural Hindu temple which is surrounded by a row of bulls carved out of rock and there are two shrines in the temple. The monuments are floodlit at night and so it is possible to enjoy their beauty after sunset.
Arjuna's Penance
Arjuna's Penance is the world's largest bas-relief measuring 27m x 9m is chiselled out of the monolithic rock, this huge whaleback shaped rock contains carved figures of Gods, Demigods, men, beasts, birds. Arjuna's Penance, the sculptured rock relief represents the entire creation. This giant open-air relief is known as the Penance of Arjuna, because of the figure of Arjuna, hero of epic Mahabharata. This shows him in the form of practising penance in order to get the boon from God Shiva, which could help him while fighting the war of Mahabharata.
The five Rathas or "Temple Chariots"
The five Rathas temples are carved from granite monoliths each created in a different style, they are also known as the "Pancha Pandava Rathas", and the four of the Rathas are supposed to have scooped out of a single rock formation. These Rathas represent as architectural models of the temple forms, the concept Ratha (chariot) actually denotes the vehicles for procession but however have no wheels' I was completely fascinated by these monumental splendours and the ancient myths.
Then we went for a quick visit to the schools of art and sculpture, again it was all very interesting and we had such a wonderful day, we decided not to see the crocodile farm and snake venom centre. Throughout the trip, our guide Kapil was wealth of knowledge with the history and fascinating stories of ancient myths, he also had brilliant sense of humour and he made our trip more interesting. We were all very pleased with him and all the places we visited in Incredible India. And we have not even seen the Taj Mahal!!
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