MAHABALIPURAM

From Chennai (Madras), Mahabalipuram is located 58 kms away, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, along the Indian eastern coast. Known for its rocks carvings and monumental sculptures it has the famous shore temple, the only one to have survived the ravages of nature. Also known as the Seven Pagodas (temples), six now lie submerged in the sea. Mahabalipuram temples whose architecture was inspired by the Pallava art, were built during the period 830 - 1100 AD. A very rude cruel king Mahabali ruled here and in a severe battle king Mahabali was killed by Lord Vishnu and the place was named after the dead of Mahabali.

During the rule of King Narasimha Varman I, the name Mahabalipuram was changed to Mamallapuram .There is a story in this connection. .King Narasimha Varman I was a great and courageous warrior and he was given the title Mamalla which means ‘the great wrestler’. After his name it was converted from Mahabalipuram to Mamallapuram considering the great king and his achievements.
Mahabalipuram has nearly forty monuments of different types including an "open air bas relief" which is the largest in the world. There are two hills in Mahabalipuram, about 400m from the sea whose both sides have 11 excavated temples, called Mandapas. Out of a big rock standing free nearby there is a "cut out" temple, called a "Ratha" which is exceptional to Mahabalipuram. The other hill smaller and standing about 200m to the south, are shaped five more rathas, and three big sculptures of a Nandi, a Lion and an Elephant. On the top of the bigger hill there is a structural temple, and a little distance the impressive beginnings of a Vijayanagar Gopura .
Five Rathas : The five Rathas of Pandavas include the Dharmaraja, the Bhima, the Arjuna, the Draupadi and the Sahadeva, . By two smaller rocks were sculptured into an elephant and a lion. Behind the Draupadi and the Arjuna, which stand on a common base, there is a Nandi.
The Shore Temple Shrines : There are 3 shrines in the Shore Temple, two of them are of Saiva and the third is of Vaishnava, with an image of Lord Anantasayi made of live rock. There are Vimanas over the Saiva shrines, but none over the third; it seems to have disappeared with time. Built by Narasimha Varman II Rajasimha, the maker of the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram in the 8th century, this is one of the earliest structural temples in Tamil Nadu.
The Shore Temple occupies a most extraordinary site at the very margin of the Bay of Bengal so that at high tide the waves sweep into it and the walls. For this reason their sculptures, have been eroded by the winds and waves of thirteen centuries

Temple Of Sthalasayana Perumal North of the bigger hill there is the temple of Sthalasayana Perumal and to the west of the five Rathas there are three more rathas, two side by side. About 600 m north of Mahabalipuram, along the coast, is Saluvankuppam, where there are magnificent excavated temples and, near it, a rock Mandapa with tiger heads along its margin called the "Tigers Cave". Between Saluvankuppam and Mahabalipuram, less than 200m from the sea, stands another structural temple, the Mukunda Nayanar.
All the monuments are Pallava except that the original Sthalasayana Perumal temple was expanded in Vijayanagar times. To the Chola days belongs a Mandapa at the entrance to the township

The Archaeological Survey of India sent divers to begin underwater excavations of the area on February 17, 2005. As of 2001 India census, Mahabalipuram had a population of 12,049. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Mahabalipuram has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 66%. In Mahabalipuram, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Everything that makes Mahabalipuram memorable; tradition, history, piety, western annals, and current importance as a centre of tourism and for centuries it has been a centre of pilgrimage, and even today it attracts devotees and foreigners in large numbers