Mahabalipuram

Every one had got bored of the long weekends , with literally nothing in hand to do. "Why can't we go to Mahabalipuram on this Saturday?" , whoever asked the question has got enough praise for the 'brilliant idea' .Waking up early morning was not that difficult even though it was out of habit. Some one advised us to wait for bus under a tree outside the Thiruvanmiyur bus terminal.Then came a Volvo with "Mamallapuram " flashing on its board. We boarded in it and exclaimed at each others face "will this go to Mahabalipuram?" "where's Mamallapuram?".Mahabalipuram is in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu.

We , a bunch of 'New to Chennai' people , started looking outside the bus ( Now when ever i look from a moving vehicle an ophthalmologist's words keep ringing in my ears " changing focus , eye muscles , eye exercises , spectacles....."God created eye specialists to spoil my travels!!! But i took revenge on them by keeping my eyes open for the next one hour) .When bus took a turn from the high way(?) we noticed a sign board with "KOVALAM " written on it.We guessed this may be the high way that connect Chennai to Kanyakumari and Kovalam.But within minutes we realised its the name of that beach side itself. A long array of beach side resorts,green gardens and amusement parks lined both sides of road for a long distance. We were totally surprised to see a beautiful face of Chennai. In one turn we saw a sign board with 28km to Pondichery written on it.The sea shores were beautiful and amazingly long.We planned to get down in a boating centre named Muthukadu in our trip back but we couldn't.

We reached there by 10.30.A few minutes walk from the bus stand and you are there in Mamallapuram ( It was named after a king 'Mamalla') fancies of 7th and 8th century.After taking a look at rock cuts and taking photographs in front of the most appealing ones some one asked "what do all these depicts?".No one had any answers."Can we Google it now?" .Then only we realised the blankness. Then came a bunch of foreigners and a guide who was explaining in a very loud voice.We eavesdropped to that narration and could make out some thing about the whole place.But i swear the guide was misguiding them through Indian myths and epics. The only thing we can depend there was the rusty boards of Archaeological survey of India which gave one line descriptions.

Cave Carvings

Built largely during the time of Narasimhavarman of Pallava dynasty, Mamallapuram have breath takingly beautiful mandapas and shrines.Many of them are monolithic too.Most of the villagers seems to be sculpturers.I was wondering who will buy that much huge Budha and deities in large number. We visited the cave temples , light house and a rock named Krishna's butter ball.That stone was looking exactly like a ball of butter from one side.It was balanced on a huge rock and another side of it was flat.We had a considerably good lunch in a nearby 'sit out turned to be a restaurant' house.

Krishna's butter ball

After lunch it was Pancha Rathas (five chariots) and Sea shore temple that entertained our eyes.Rathas were monolithic and carved in pink granite.The five rathas are named after the five Pandavas (nakula and sahadeva together) and Draupadi.There were huge elephant and lion sculpture among the rathas.

The Rathas

Sea shore temple over looks Bay of Bengal.It has three shrines ,of which two are dedicated to Shiva and one to Vishnu.Inside the temple it was very cool and we sat there for a very long time to escape from the scorching heat .The sea shore temple premise is converted to a garden and entrance is restricted by tickets.We noticed a group of people entering one by one with a single ticket.The one who enters gives the ticket to his friend who is standing outside through the gate.But they were unaware of the inner counter where they tear the ticket and give you a half of it.

Sea Shore temple

We left the place at 4.30 . Back at home we Googled about Mahabalipuram and realised it was one of the UNESCO Heritage Sites.