Mamallapuram Mahabalipuram | |
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Suburban of Chennai city | |
Mamallapuram | |
Coordinates: 12°37′11″N80°11′40″E / 12.61972°N 80.19444°E | |
Country | India |
State | Tamil Nadu |
District | Chengalpattu |
Area | |
• Total | 12.568 km2 (4.853 sq mi) |
Elevation | 12 m (39 ft) |
Population (2011) [2] | |
• Total | 15,172 |
• Density | 1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi) |
Languages | |
• Official | Tamil |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 603104 |
Telephone code | 91–44 |
Vehicle registration | TN-19 [3] |
Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram [4] ), is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is one of the famous tourist sites in India. [5] The ancient name of the place is Thirukadalmallai. It is a part of Chennai Metropolitan Area. It is a satellite town of Chennai.
Mamallapuram was one of two major port cities in the Pallava kingdom. The town was named after Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, who was also known as Mamalla. Along with economic prosperity, it became the site of a group of royal monuments, many carved out of the living rock. These are dated to the 7th and 8th centuries: rathas (temples in the form of chariots), mandapas (cave sanctuaries), the giant open-air rock relief the Descent of the Ganges , and the Shore Temple dedicated to Shiva. [5] [6] The contemporary town plan was established by the British Raj in 1827. [7]
The earliest mention of the city is found in the 1st century work called Periplus of the Erythraean Sea by an unknown Greek navigator. Ptolemy, the Greek geographer refers this place as Malange. Mahabalipuram is also known by other names such as Mamallapattana and Mamallapuram. The term Mamallapuram means the city of Mamalla, the other name of the famous Pallava Emperor Narasimhavarman I (630-670 CE) who built the famous temples in the city. Thirumangai Alvar, the famous Vaishnavite saint mentions this place as Thirukadalmallai, referring to the Sthalasayana Perumal Temple. [8] Another name by which Mahabalipuram has been known to mariners, at least since Marco Polo's time is "Seven Pagodas" alluding to the Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram that stood on the shore, of which one, the Shore Temple, survives. [9]
Neolithic burial urn, cairn circles and jars with burials dating to the 1st century BCE have been discovered near Mahabalipuram. The Sangam age poem Perumpāṇāṟṟuppadai relates the rule of King Thondaiman Ilam Thiraiyar at Kanchipuram of the Tondai Nadu port Nirppeyyaru which scholars identify with the present-day Mahabalipuram. Chinese coins and Roman coins of Theodosius I in the 4th century CE have been found at Mahabalipuram revealing the port as an active hub of global trade in the late classical period. Two Pallava coins bearing legends read as Srihari and Srinidhi have been found at Mahabalipuram. The Pallava kings ruled Mahabalipuram from Kanchipuram; the capital of the Pallava dynasty from the 3rd century to 9th century CE, and used the port to launch trade and diplomatic missions to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. An 8th-century Tamil text written by Thirumangai Alvar described this place as Sea Mountain 'where the ships rode at anchor bent to the point of breaking laden as they were with wealth, big trunked elephants and gems of nine varieties in heaps'. [10]
The temples of Mahabalipuram, portraying events described in the Mahabharata, were built largely during the reigns of King Narasimhavarman and his successor Rajasimhavarman and show the movement from rock-cut architecture to structural building. The city of Mahabalipuram was founded by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I in the 7th century CE. [9] The mandapa or pavilions and the rathas or shrines shaped as temple chariots are hewn from the granite rock face, while the famed Shore Temple, erected half a century later, is built from dressed stone. What makes Mahabalipuram so culturally resonant are the influences it absorbs and disseminates. The Shore Temple includes many reliefs, including one 100 feet (30 m) long and 45 feet (14 m) high, carved out of granite. [11] In 1957 the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture was established to promote and revive the art of making sculptures and temples.
MTC and TNSTC (Villupuram division) operate bus services between Mamallapuram/Mahabalipuram and Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Thiruttani etc. MTC's bus services available from various parts of the Chennai include Deluxe and Air-conditioned buses. [12] Mahabalipuram is 56 km from Chennai.
Mahabalipuram has a tropical wet and dry climate. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is Aw. The average annual temperature is 28.4 °C. The temperatures are highest on average in May, at around 32.6 °C. In January, the average temperature is 24.3 °C, the lowest of the year. The average temperatures vary during the year by 8.3 °C. In a year, the average rainfall is 1219 mm. In winter, there is much less rainfall than in summer. The variation in the precipitation between the driest and wettest months is 309 mm.
Climate data for Mahabalipuram | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.9 (84.0) | 30.4 (86.7) | 32.1 (89.8) | 34.4 (93.9) | 37.6 (99.7) | 37.4 (99.3) | 35.5 (95.9) | 34.9 (94.8) | 34.3 (93.7) | 32.0 (89.6) | 29.3 (84.7) | 28.5 (83.3) | 32.9 (91.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 24.3 (75.7) | 25.4 (77.7) | 27.2 (81.0) | 30.0 (86.0) | 32.6 (90.7) | 32.2 (90.0) | 30.8 (87.4) | 30.2 (86.4) | 29.7 (85.5) | 28.0 (82.4) | 25.8 (78.4) | 24.6 (76.3) | 28.4 (83.1) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 19.8 (67.6) | 20.4 (68.7) | 22.4 (72.3) | 25.6 (78.1) | 27.6 (81.7) | 27.1 (80.8) | 26.2 (79.2) | 25.5 (77.9) | 25.1 (77.2) | 24.1 (75.4) | 22.4 (72.3) | 20.8 (69.4) | 23.9 (75.1) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 20 (0.8) | 6 (0.2) | 4 (0.2) | 11 (0.4) | 55 (2.2) | 62 (2.4) | 92 (3.6) | 124 (4.9) | 114 (4.5) | 240 (9.4) | 313 (12.3) | 178 (7.0) | 1,219 (47.9) |
Average precipitation days | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 71 |
Source: Climate-data.org [13] |
The town has a collection of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu religious monuments that has been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [5] [6] [14] It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. [5]
The site has 40 ancient monuments and Hindu temples, [15] including Descent of the Ganges or Arjuna's Penance – one of the largest open-air rock relief in the world. [5] [16] The site includes several categories of monuments: ratha temples with an architecture of monolith processional chariots built between 630 and 668 CE; the mandapa viharas with halls and stone roofs with narratives from the Mahabharata , Shaktism and Vaishnavism; rock reliefs particularly bas-reliefs of Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism; stone cut temples particularly those dedicated to Shiva that also reverentially display Vishnu and others, built between 695 and 722 CE; and, archaeological excavations with inscriptions some dated to 6th century and earlier. [14] [17] The cave temples and monolithic temples were built during the Pallava Period. [6] [14] [18] The site is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India. [19]
Some important structures include:
As of 2001 [update] India census, Mahabalipuram had a population of 12,345. [25] Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Mahabalipuram has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 73%: male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 66%. In Mahabalipuram, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. [26]
In October 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Arjuna's Penance, the Pancha Rathas complex and the Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram. [27]
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana Empire, whom they had formerly served as feudatories.
Narasimhavarman I was a Pallava emperor who reigned from 630 CE to 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the works started by Mahendravarman in Mamallapuram. During his reign, the famous Pancha Rathas, a monolithic rock-cut temple complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site was constructed.
The Kailasanathar Temple, Kanchipuram, also referred to as the Kailasanatha temple, is a Pallava-era historic Hindu temple in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Dedicated to Shiva, it is one of the oldest surviving monuments in Kanchipuram. It reflects a Dravidian architecture and was built about 700 CE by Narasimhavarman II with additions by Mahendravarman III. A square-plan temple, it has a mukha-mandapa, a maha-mandapa and a primary garbha-griya (sanctum) topped with a four-storey vimana. The main sanctum is surrounded by nine shrines, seven outside and two inside flanking the entrance of the sanctum, all with forms of Shiva. The outer walls of the temple's prakara (courtyard) is also surrounded by cells.
Sthalasayana Perumal Temple is at Mahabalipuram. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Sthalasayana Perumal and his consort Lakshmi as Nilamangai Thayar. The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallavas, with later contributions from the Medieval Cholas, Vijayanagara kings, and Madurai Nayaks.
Narasimhavarman II, popularly known as Rajasimha and as Rajamalla, was a Pallava monarch who reigned from 695 CE to 728 CE. He is credited with the construction of the Shore Temple Complex, the Isvara and Mukunda Temples in Mamallapuram, the Talagirisvara Temple in Panamalai and the Kailasanathar Temple in Kanchi. He is further credited with the construction of a Buddhist Vihara at Nagipattinam, which is commonly known as ‘China-pagoda'.
The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a collection of 7th- and 8th-century CE religious monuments in the coastal resort town of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Chennai.
Pancha Rathas is a monument complex at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Chengalpattu district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Pancha Rathas is an example of monolithic Indian rock-cut architecture. The complex was initially thought to have carved during the reign of King Narasimhavarman I. However, historians such as Nagaswamy attributed all of monuments in Mahabalipuram to Narasimhavarman II with the discovery of new inscriptions. The complex is under the auspices of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed by UNESCO in 1984 as Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram.
Varaha Cave Temple is a rock-cut cave temple located at Mamallapuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal in Kancheepuram District in Tamil Nadu, India. It is part of the hill top village, which is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the north of the main Mahabalipurm sites of rathas and the Shore Temple. It is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century. The temple is one of the finest testimonial to the ancient Hindu rock-cut cave architecture, out of many such caves also called mandapas. Part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as inscribed in 1984 under criteria i, ii, iii and iv. The most prominent sculpture in the cave is that of the Hindu god Vishnu in the incarnated form of a Varaha or boar lifting Bhudevi, the mother earth goddess from the sea. Also carved are many mythical figures.
The Shore Temple is a complex of temples and shrines that overlooks the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is located in Mahabalipuram, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India.
Dharmaraja Ratha is a monument in the Pancha Rathas complex at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an example of monolith Indian rock-cut architecture. Dating from the late 7th century, it is attributed to the reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I of the Pallava Kingdom. The entire complex is under the auspices of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Arjuna Ratha is a monument from the Pallava Period at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, India. Dated to the seventh century, it is an example of early Dravidian architecture and of monolith Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century during reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I of the Pallava Kingdom. One of the Pancha Rathas, it is believed to have been completed before the Dharmaraja Ratha, and like that and the Bhima Ratha, the stone temple is a replica of an earlier wooden version which preceded it. It is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Bhima Ratha is a monument in the Pancha Rathas complex at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an example of monolith Indian rock-cut architecture. Dating from the late 7th century, it is attributed to the reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I of the Pallava Kingdom. The entire complex is under the auspices of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
The Draupadi Ratha is a monument in the Pancha Rathas complex at Mahabalipuram, previously called Mamallapuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an example of monolithic Indian rock-cut architecture. Dating from the late 7th century, it is attributed to the reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I of the Pallava Kingdom. The entire complex is under the auspices of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Descent of the Ganges, known locally as Arjuna's Penance, is a monument at Mamallapuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Chengalpattu district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Measuring 96 by 43 feet, it is a giant open-air rock relief carved on two monolithic rock boulders. The legend depicted in the relief is the story of the descent of the sacred river Ganges to earth from the heavens led by Bhagiratha. The waters of the Ganges are believed to possess supernatural powers. The descent of the Ganges and Arjuna's Penance are portrayed in stone at the Pallava heritage site. The relief is more of a canvas of Indian rock cut sculpture at its best not seen anywhere else in India. It is one of the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Nakula Sahadeva Ratha is a monument in the Pancha Rathas complex at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an example of monolith Indian rock-cut architecture. Dating from the late 7th century, it is attributed to the reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I of the Pallava Kingdom. The entire complex is under the auspices of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Mahishasuramardhini Mandapa is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century, of the Pallava dynasty. It is a rock-cut cave temple located on a hill, near a lighthouse, along with other caves in Mamallapuram. Mamallapuram, also popularly known as Mahabalipuram, is a small village to the south of Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1984. This Cave Temple has many interesting architectural features of which three exquisitely carved reliefs on the cave walls of three sanctums are prominent. One is of Vishnu reclining on the seven hooded serpent, Adishesha, another of Durga, the main deity of the cave temple Durga slaying the buffalo headed demon Mahishasura, and the third sanctum has a sculpture of Shiva.
Ganesha Ratha is a temple in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of ten rathas ("chariots") carved out of pink granite within the group of monuments of the Pallava Period at Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO-inscribed World Heritage Site since 1984. The ratha is an example of monolith Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late seventh century during the reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I. Initially constructed with a Shiva Linga, it is now deified with a Ganesha deity after the linga was removed.
Panchapandava Cave Temple is a monument at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The mandapa is part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is the largest cave temple in Mahabalipuram. It is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century. The temple is one of the finest testimonial to the ancient Vishwakarma Sthapathis, of rock-cut cave architecture, out of many such caves also called mandapas. Part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as inscribed in 1984 under criteria i, ii, iii and iv.
Pallava art and architecture represent an early stage of Dravidian architecture which blossomed to its fullest extent under the Chola Dynasty. The first stone and mortar temples of South India were constructed during Pallava rule and were based on earlier brick and timber prototypes.
Nithyakalayana Perumal temple in Thiruvidandai, a village in Chennai, Chengalpattu district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to Varaha, the boar avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Tamil style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Nithyakalayana Perumal (Varaha) and his consort Lakshmi as Komalavalli Thayar. The original structure of the temple was built by the Pallavas during the 7th century CE, with later additions from the Cholas during the 11th century.