The Shore Temple of Mahabalipuram

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The attractions of Mahabalipuram

There are three main interesting groups of attractions in Mahabalipuram. One is the shore temple (including museum and sea shore), another is the pancharatha (or pancha pandava) temples and the other is the group of caves, temples and other monuments on the stone hill. The last set of attractions include arjuna's penance, krishna mandapam, krishna's butter ball, ganesh cave, mahisa mardhini cave, trimurthi temple, the light house and few more. I have written about those monuments in a separate article.

The shore temple

There is an entrance fee of Rs 10/- to visit the shore temple and pancharatha temple (combined ticket). The ticket counter is there in front of the shore temple. As this is one of the UNESCO world heritage site (declared in 1984), you will get a thick colorful impressive ticket like that you get in Agra or in Konark. (The cost of printing the ticket would be about Rs 10/-). Other places (caves and temples etc. on the stone hill) are free to visit. The entry fee for foreigners are high (about 5$ ?). The still camera is free. Hand held video cameras are allowed on written request (Rs 25).



The shore temple is near the sea shore (bay of bengal). The shore temple is near the shore of Bay of Bengal. The difference is only a few meters from the sea which is now developed with plantations. (the sea is there behind the plantation behind me in the picture above).



This temple was built during 8th Century by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman. That time Mahabalipuram was a port for trading purposes. Now the northern side beach is used for fishing and is known as fishing beach.



There are temples of lord Shiva and Vishnu etc. The stone carvings and architecture of the temple are beautiful. There is a huge stone lion (picture below) and other interesting stone statues around.

Other things near the temple

There is a small museum near the shore temple.

There is a big temple pond around 100 mtrs away from the shore temple, outside the temple campus.

The sea beach is very close and visible from the temple.

Sthalasayana temple and other caves are about 200 meters from the shore temple. Pacharatha temples are about half km from the shore temple.

Mahabalipuram sea beach

Although the beach is visible from the temple you cannot go to the water from the temple because of the wall in between. You have to come out of the temple campus and go by the side of the temple to go near the water. You will find a lot of horses available for riding. Horse riding is 50 to 100 rupees, just sitting on the horse to take photo is 20-30 rupees.

Video of the shore temple and sea shore

You may like to view my video on the shore temple and sea shore in youtube below.

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Comments

[sathish balaji R]

way to go!
tis gave me a good picture of mahabalipuram..hope u do travel more and do more blogging on al tese..