travelogue atriptomahabalipurampondicherry
Post on 06-Jul-2018
224 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
8/17/2019 Travelogue ATripToMahabalipuramPondicherry
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/travelogue-atriptomahabalipurampondicherry 1/6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Narrated By: Arindam Basu
Page 1 of 6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry (25-Aug-2010 to 26-Aug-2010)
Narrated By: Arindam Basu (arindam_basu@yahoo.com)
Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram
Mahabalipuram – also known as
Mamallapuram is a town in the state of
Tamil Nadu, India and located at around
60km south of Chennai. The town is
famous for its stone carvings and legends
of its seven pagodas, six of which were
lost to sea and parts of which were re-
discovered during the Tsunami of 2004.The groups of Monuments at
Mahabalipuram have been classified as a
UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Shore Temple (built at around 700AD)
is a prominent standing structure here.
I got a chance to visit the place when I was lodged at a
guest house on the East Coast Road, Chennai.
The guest house I was stationed at is located atVettuvankeni Bus stop, about 7kms from the
Thiruvanmuyur Bus stand.
The East Coast road is a well connected highway
connecting Chennai with Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry
(or Puducherry).
The Mahabalipuram town is located on the shores of Bay
of Bengal and has faced the wrath of sea at various
periods of time.
The heritage site of Mahabalipuram is known to me for
long, but being lodged at the ECR guest house I never
realized that I was so close to the place.
I decided to visit the places of Mahabalipuram and
Pondicherry on consecutive days at very early morning.
8/17/2019 Travelogue ATripToMahabalipuramPondicherry
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/travelogue-atriptomahabalipurampondicherry 2/6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Narrated By: Arindam Basu
Page 2 of 6
On 25-Aug-2010 (Wednesday), I woke up early and got ready and walked to the Vettuvankeni
Bus stop at 6:45am. It was drizzling and was very cloudy. I have to wait for long to get a Bus for
Mahabalipuram, since most buses on the route were destined for Puducherry. Got the Bus at
7:15am and the Bus fare was Rs16/-. It took some half and hour and I reached the outskirts of
the town by 7:50am. I already had the complete chart preparad for what to see like – Krishna’s
Butter Ball, Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance, Varaha Cave, Panch Rathas and the Beach
Krishna’s Butter Ball: It is a giant
monolithic natural granite rock of height
above 20 feet with weight over 250
tonnes, and miraculously stands on an
extremely small base of around 4 feet and
stands on a slippery area of a hill and has
been standing there for 1000 years!
An attempt to move the Rock in to a safer
place in 1908 using 7 elephants to push
the rock did not make it to move a single
inch.
The Rock was originally known as “VaanIrai Kal” or Stone of the Sky God in Tamil.
I asked a localite to take my snap with the rock and I stayed a bit away from the rock, because
even though it may not have moved for 1000 years, it may start to move anytime and taking a
bet on that was not my plan!
You will notice the small boulder near the grass with holes on it created by masons, who placed
wooden planks in the holes and dripped water on them so that the wood planks expand and
create tremendous pressure and break such boulders into smaller pieces across the dotted
lines. This ingenious technique was used to cut all big rock structures in ancient days.
Varaha Cave: The Cave has been carved out of a single big rock and has detailed intricate
carvings depicting Vishnu, Durga and other gods. The ceiling has nice paintings in red.
Rayar Gopuram: Walking towards the hills, I noticed various structures, many of them half
finished, and all cut out of monolithic huge rocks. Notice the bird carving (circled in blue) as
signature of the sculpture who created the carving.
8/17/2019 Travelogue ATripToMahabalipuramPondicherry
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/travelogue-atriptomahabalipurampondicherry 3/6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Narrated By: Arindam Basu
Page 3 of 6
Walking further towards the lighthouse I noticed a giant rock slab with a sitting lion structure, a
rock cut bath tub shaped structure filled with water, another cave with rock cut structure with
intricate carvings of gods like Brahma and others, a rock slab in the shape of a bed and other
larger structures
Arjuna’s Penance: I traced back to the Butter Ball area and went to see the Arjuna’s Penance or
the Descent of the Ganges, which is a giant bas-relief single rock cut structure with intricate
carvings of Elephants, Gods and various characters unknown to the Archaeologists.
Besides the Arjuna’s Penance there was another rock cut Cave with intricate carvings.
Thirukadalmallai: It is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu and
built by Pallava King who reined the region from 7th
to 9th
century
AD. This temple location is in between the Arjuna’s Penance and
Shore Temple.
It is believed that this structure was build to safeguard the
sculptures from the sea and after building this, the sculptures
were saved from corrosion by the sea.
8/17/2019 Travelogue ATripToMahabalipuramPondicherry
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/travelogue-atriptomahabalipurampondicherry 4/6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Narrated By: Arindam Basu
Page 4 of 6
Shore Temple: The Shore Temple is build using rock structures and was built by Pallava King
Narasimha Varman II (RajaSimha) during AD 700-728
The Temple has a Shiva Lingam in the central building and various rock carved structures ofanimals and gods. There is a lion structure with Durga idol carved within its hollow space in the
front. The garden is nice and well maintained.
Mahabalipuram Beach: The Beach is just besides the Shore Temple. The sea is very rough here
and there is a steep slope at the edge towards the sea.
Panch Ratha: The site contains five ratha or chariots built during the period AD 630-668 by the
Pallava King NarasimhaVarman I, using large huge rocks for each of the structures.
8/17/2019 Travelogue ATripToMahabalipuramPondicherry
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/travelogue-atriptomahabalipurampondicherry 5/6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Narrated By: Arindam Basu
Page 5 of 6
The Panch Rathas – are named since they resemble wooden chariots. Various animal forms like
an Elephant, Cow and Lion are represented on the monolithic stones.
Walking away from the Panch Rathas I noticed various granite stone cut sculptors created by
local artists for sale besides the road.
Mahisamardini Cave: I walked ahead to visit the Cave which was on a steep rock pathway and I
seemed exhausted to climb the huge rock stairs to the hill top of the Cave. From the hill top I
could see the entire view of the town.
The inside of the Mahisamardini Cave had exquisite display of stone carvings of Hindu deities.
This was my last destination at Mahabalipuram and then I slowly walked ahead to the Bus Stop
to catch the return Bus.
8/17/2019 Travelogue ATripToMahabalipuramPondicherry
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/travelogue-atriptomahabalipurampondicherry 6/6
Travelogue - A Trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, Narrated By: Arindam Basu
Page 6 of 6
Pondicherry (or Puducherry)
On 26-Aug-2010, I visited the well known Pondicherry city. It is situated at a distance of 160Kms
from Chennai. I took an early morning Express Bus at 6:30am from Vettuvankeni (on East Coast
Road) and reached Mangalpet, 3kms from Aurobindo Ashram at around 8:50am. Taking an auto
I reached the Ashram and visited the Samadhi of Rishi Aurobindo.
Roaming around I noticed that the buildings at Pondicherry have distinct evidence of Portugese
architecture.
The shore line near the Aurobindo Ashram is rocky and the sea is very rough here.
I had limited time and hence could not enjoy much of Pondicherry and its beaches and have to
leave soon to complete my visit.
© All Photos are taken with my Digital Camera, Samsung L201
top related