Context

• Mamallapuram sculptures rank among the best due to their very humane quality, says art historian.

Key Details about the findings

• The varied architecture of the Pancha Rathas of Mamallapuram form the basis of temples in the Chola, Nayaka and Vijayanagar periods.
• Citing the example of the bas-relief of River Ganga’s descent, even in such a large relief, the teeming world of nature had not been forgotten.

  

• There were many archaeological sites in and around Mamallapuram which had yielded Roman potteries and coins.
• The beginning of art and architecture in Tamil Nadu. One can see the transition from rock art to structural architecture here.

Back to Basics

• Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, 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.
• The ancient name of the place is Thirukadalmallai.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Source: TH & Wikipedia

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