Normal route to cover Mahabalipuram is vide Chennai as a base, we adopted the unconventional route of travelling via Chengalpet from Tirupati. We took a train from Tirupathi at 4.25 am and reached chengulpet at 10 am and from there we took a bus and reached Mahabs at 11.30 am. For the next 3 hours we discovered the heritage of Mahabs.
The Pallava kings had established Mahabalipuram as a sea port to have trading links with China, Arabs and Greeks. Infact the antecedents point out to trading links to earlier times with Roman empire and later to European. It can be pointed out that Pallavan kings were inspired by Chalukyan architecture and wanted to surpass them in their own capital and nearby areas.
Mahabalipuram was an ideal locale with plenty of granite available with skilled artisans to build an edifice of mammoth proportions. The symbol of Lion & elephant was used to display the power of the kings. Thus began the chiselling of the hillocks in the fashion of Badami, which had set the trend. The Mahabharat and Ramayan became an ideal background story for the artisan of times to display their chiselling skills. In fact I strongly suspect that many artisans from Badami migrated to Mahabalipuram in the absense of sufficient work after completing the edifices at Badami.
This place was earlier referred to as city of SEVEN PAGODAS or placee of seven temples. But unfortunately Tsunami in 1341 AD seems to have submerged the majority of the Pagodas and Palaces built around the seashore, with element of nature sparing only one seashore temple for future generation to relish. How ironic, another Tsunami in 2006 has helped to uncover the remains of lost monuments.
The credit for construction or patronage for building all the monuments should go to the following Pallavan Kings Mahendra Varman( 580-630 AD) and his famous progeny Mahamallan Narasimha Varman( 630 - 668 AD) grandson Mahendra Varman( 668 - 672 AD) Great grandson Parmeswara Varman( 672 - 700 AD) and Narasimha Varman II also known as Raja simha( 700 - 728 AD). Krishnadevaraya( 1509 - 1529 AD) too contributed his might by his unfinished gopuram on the hillock, which is known as Rayagopuram.
Monuments of Mahabalipuram received world heritage status in 1984 from UNESCO. This propelled action for resurrection and maintainence of the open air museum. In 1991 when we visited Mahabalipuram in the peak of summer, it was scorching heat, which refrained us from thoroughly exploring the site. But we saw a sea change with greenary embedded into the site, which made it more pleasant. An umbrella is must to cover the entire stretch of monuments to protect oneself from searing heat.
Sightseeing @ Mahabalipuram:
ARJUNA’s Penance
Pandava Cave
Krishna Mantap
Krishna’s Butterball
Trimurthi Cave
Elephant Group
Ganesh Rath
Varaha Mantap
Raya Gopuram/Tower
Lion Throne
Mahishamardini Cave
Adi Varaha Mantap
Lighthouse
Five Raths
Scupture shopping
Tiger cave
Athiranachanda Cave
Vishnu Temple
Shore Temple
Beach
Our visit to Mahabs is still incomplete we have to cover some more monuments and explore the beaches of Mahabs in a leisure. For those who like heritage, one should plan their itinerary in such a way that one reaches this place early morning and finish exploration before noon. There are plenty of places to have nice veg and non-veg food opp bus stand, and for those adventurers resorts varying from Fisherman’s cove to Moonraker is available. Plenty of dhaabas serving literally live fish cooked in front of one’s eye can be experienced.