Mahabalipuram

Mahabalipuram, India

The ancient Shore Temple stands by the Bay of Bengal at sunrise, with golden light touching its weathered granite stone.

Go for the seventh- and eighth-century rock-cut and stone temples carved beside the Bay of Bengal, an easy day out from Chennai.

The place

Mahabalipuram, also spelled Mamallapuram, is a small town in Chengalpattu district on the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu. It sits barely 12 metres above sea level and has about 15,000 residents, so it feels more like a seaside village than a city. Chennai is roughly an hour away by the East Coast Road, which is why day trips from the city are so common.

The town itself has changed a great deal. The main street and the coastal road are lined with guesthouses, resorts, restaurants and souvenir stalls, and on busy days the traffic and litter can take the shine off the approach. Most visitors come for the monuments scattered across the town and the low granite outcrops around it. Wander away from the main road in the early morning and you will find quieter lanes, fishing boats drawn up on the sand, and the sound of the sea in place of engines.

What makes the place unusual is its material. Much of the sculpture was not assembled from blocks but cut out of living granite, so some shrines are essentially single pieces of the hillside. Weathering has softened parts of the reliefs, yet the detail remains sharp enough to read at close range. Give yourself time to walk slowly between the sites. The distances are short, but the heat and the crowds can make a rushed visit tiring.

Its story

Mahabalipuram has a history much older than its carvings. Burial urns and stone circles from the 1st century BCE have turned up nearby, and Sangam-age Tamil poetry names a port here that scholars connect with the present town. Chinese coins and Roman coins from a 4th-century emperor's reign show that ships from far away once called at the coast, making it a busy hub of trade in the late classical period.

From the 3rd century to the 9th, the Pallava dynasty ruled from its inland capital at Kanchipuram and used this coast as one of its two major ports. Ships left from here on trade and diplomatic missions to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Wealth brought patronage, and in the 7th century King Narasimhavarman I, also called Mamalla, set masons to work on the rock. The town took its name from him.

His successor Rajasimhavarman continued the programme, and the work moved from cutting shrines out of hillsides towards building with stone blocks. Many of the reliefs draw on episodes from the Mahabharata. In the 8th century, the Tamil poet Thirumangai Alvar praised the harbour as a place where ships rode low with riches. The British laid out the modern town plan in 1827.

What to see

Culture

Mahabalipuram is a sacred landscape as well as a tourist site, and some of its shrines are still used by worshippers alongside the visitors. The Ganesha Ratha is the clearest example, so the mood can shift from sightseeing to devotion within a few steps. The monuments are spread over open ground and rock faces that hold heat well into the afternoon, so carry water and plan your walking for the cooler hours.

Vendors work the beach road and the approaches to the sites. A polite, firm refusal usually ends the matter, and a long negotiation rarely pays off. Local people are generally relaxed about visitors, but questions about photographing worshippers or women are best answered with a pause and a request for permission. Keep to the marked paths, because the stone is old and fragile. Take your shoes off before entering any shrine or cave that has a threshold, and never climb on or lean against the carvings.

What to wear

Traditional dress in Mahabalipuram follows the wider Tamil world. Women traditionally wear the sari, often in cotton for everyday use and silk for festivals and weddings. Kanchipuram, a short distance inland, is known for its silk saris, and many families still buy them there. Men traditionally wear the veshti, a cloth wrapped around the waist and legs, usually with a shirt on top.

What people wear now is a mix. Many women wear sarees on festival days and salwar-kameez at other times, while younger men and women in the town often wear jeans and shirts. Temple visitors and local worshippers tend to dress more formally, and the colours of the festival crowd, including reds and golds, are worth noticing.

For a visitor, the practical choice is loose, light cotton that covers the shoulders and knees, especially at the shrines and caves. Carry a scarf or shawl you can drape over your shoulders for temple entry. The sites involve granite steps, rough ground and sand, so wear closed shoes or sandals with straps, and bring a wide-brimmed hat for the open sites.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. January and February, when temperatures are at their most comfortable and the rain is lightest. May is the hottest month at about 32.6 °C, and October and November bring the heaviest rain, so avoid those months if you can.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. Fly into Chennai, then take a taxi or a bus marked ECR from the city's bus stands along the East Coast Road, about an hour to the town. ECR buses often drop you a short way out, where rickshaws wait.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources