Mahabalipuram
The Mahabalipuram landmarks are an accumulation of religious monuments from the seventh and eighth centuries CE in the seaside resort town of Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India, and are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, approximately 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Chennai.
The site contains 400 ancient sites and Hindu tempShake reliefs.g one of the world’s largest outdoor shake reliefs, the Descent of the Ganges, also known as Arjuna’s Penance.The gathering contains Ratha sanctuariesions of landmarks: Ratha sanctuaries with solid processional chariots, worked somewhere between 630 and 668; mandapa viharas (buckle sanctuaries) with stories from the Mahabharata and Shaivic, Shakti, and Vaishna engravings in various Indian dialects and contents; shake reliefs (especially bas-reliefs); stone-cut sanctuaries worked somewhere betweeUnearthings22, and archaeological unearthings dated to the sixth century.
The landmarks were created during the Pallava administration. Known as the Seven Pagodas in several early period compositions, they are also known as the Mamallapuram or Mahabalipuram sanctuaries in modern writing. The Archaeological Survey of India oversees the site, which was re-established after 1960.
Mamallapuram became well-known during Simhavishnu’s Pallava rule in the late sixth century, a period of political rivalry with the Pandyas, Cheras, and Cholas, and an otherworldly age with the rise of sixth to eighth century Bhakti development artist researchers: the Vaishnava Alvars and the Shaiva Nayanars. The design of Mamallapuram is associated with Simhavishnu’s child, Mahendravarman I (600-630 CE), who favoured manifestations of the human experience. Narsimha Varman I, Mahendravarman’s son, was influenced by his father’s efforts, and most researchers attribute many of the markers to him. After a brief hiatus, sanctuary and milestone development continued during the reign of Rajasimha (or Narasimhavarman II; 690-728).
The landmarks are a mix of religion, culture, and legends associated with the Hindu religious pantheon.They are large-scale articulations made by shaking or within rocks that incorporate nature and model. The site comprises approximately forty milestones, in varying degrees of fulfilment, organised into five groups:
Rathas are chariot-formed sanctuaries.
Mandapas: Cave Sanctuary
Shake reliefs
Basic sanctuaries
Unearthings
There are 10 notable rathas, ten mandapas, two shake bas-reliefs, and three simple temples. The great arrangement is based on a square and a circle, or stacked squares (which produce a square shape). The reliefs, models, and engineering combine Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism, with each landmark honouring a god or character from Hindu mythology. The landmarks are a source of several seventh and eighth century Sanskrit engravings, which provide insight into mediaeval South Indian history, culture, administration and religion.
Ratha sanctuaries
The Ratha shrines in southern Mahabalipuram are cut in the shape of chariots. We can see that the craftsmen used naturally occurring squares of diorite and rock in sand, cutting legends in stone, and gave the Indian culture and history the five solid, best-known structures anticipating the shoreline, known as the Five Rathas or the Pandava Rathas; in the Mahabharata, the Pandavas are five siblings and their regular spouse, Draupadi. Despite the fact that the imagery and gathering of the sanctuaries has prompted these prominent names, they are not genuine rathas or devoted to the Pandavas; rather, they are sanctuaries dedicated to divinities and ideas of the Shaivi (Shiva), Vaishnavi (Vishnu), and Shakti (Durga) conventions of Hinduism.These rathas date back to the seventh century.
The five-ratha assembly is on a north-south axis, with the DhaDharmaraj Ratha the south, followed by theArjuna and Draupadi Rathadi Rathas, the latter two providing a customary platform. There is a lion west of the Arjuna-Draupadi stage, a bull to the east, and a standing elephant to the southwest. The Nakula and Sahadeva Ratha are located northwesBhima Rathaima Ratha and southwest of the Arjuna Ratha, behind the elephant. The cross-sectional hub of the Nakula and Sahadeva Ratha is the group’s main point. With the exception of the Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha, which has a south entrance, all sanctuaries have a west gateway.
The rathas have regular components, each of which is on a shaped plinth, with or without ganas; as George Michell points out, on this base, the “dividers partition musically into various projections and breaks between pilasters” (forming niches). Sculptures are located within the specialities, and the more critical models feature makaras on their portions. Above them are overhangs, some of which feature human faces. Mouldings represent the rich parapet. The upper level was revamped (to a lesser extent), while the lower level was covered with bended roofs.
Dharmaraja Ratha
The Dharmaraja ratha is a stone sanctuary with rocks in front and another sanctuary on the left. It has a square floor plan inside a rectangle casing (26.75 ft x 20.67 ft) and stands 35.67 feet tall. It features an open garden surrounded by columns. The sanctuary’s pyramidal pinnacle is made up of a vimana of contracting squares and crowned with an octagonal shikhara. History confirms that it had (or was supposed to have) a finial. Its columns have elaborate lions at their bases. It has three levels: the lowest is strong (likely never cut out), while the upper two contain shrines. The two top levels are connected by steps cut into the stone. There are two houses of worship on the centre level, and one on the top level. The ratha dividers are carved and engraved, with one saying Narasimhavarman I. The western side of the greatest story features a Somaskanda image. The entablature blends the ordinary and the extraordinary, with human faces peering out of the chariot’s kudu curves. An Amaravati motif is cut beneath the cornice.
Illustrations of the sanctuary interior done in 1880.
At ground level, the sides have four columns, while the other two have two columns and two pilasters. Each corner has two specialities, and the carved figures plainly wave to the group. The divinities include Ardhanarishvara (half Parvati, half Shiva), Harihara (half Vishnu, half Shiva), Brahma, Skanda, Bhairava (Shiva), and two more Shiva cloud forms. The upper-middle level contains carvings of Shiva and Vishnu, indicating that the specialists respected both Hindu traditions. This level includes Nataraja (moving Shiva), Vinadhara (Shiva with Veena), Gangadhara (Shiva transporting the Ganges from paradise to earth), Vrishbhantika (Shiva with Nandi), Kankalamurti, Chandesa, and Vishnu. The topmost level features carvings of Dakshinamurti (Shiva as a master or tutor), Surya, and Chandra.
The Somaskanda board is remarkable because it dates the sanctuary back to the mid-7th century. Its distinctness from those created during the Rajasimha period distinguishes it as a unique piece of art, similar to those created during the early Pallava era.
Bhima Ratha
The Bhima Ratha is the largest of the five rathas, standing outside a large stone shrine with a man and a woman for scale.
Bhima Ratha (next to Dharmaraja Ratha) is massive and features a vaulted barrel-style roof suggestive of woodwork. The ratha is 46 feet (14 meters) long, about 25 feet (7.6 meters) tall, and about 25 feet wide. Its inadequate interior was most likely designed to hold a leaning back Vishnu (anantasayana). Unlike alternate rathas, the sanctuary lacks engravings and models. Its vimana has been sliced randomly on both sides of the roof. The cornice contains seven sets of kudus (Sanskrit: gavaksha). Above it, salas and kutas (aediculae) are substituted, forming thirteen little vimanas. Over this stratum, five grivas (necks, clerestory) sliced into the consecrated area, akin to a speciality flanked by small pilasters. The two on either side are almost the same size, while the one in the centre is larger. This is evidenced by the tallest peak, which contains eighteen separate kalashas and two tridents.
According to Ramaswami, the ratha has an inserted square layout up to the entablature, with the griva and shikara forming a circle. Its long side features four round columns and two adjustable pilasters, with the base constructed of lions. The north and south sides are each supported by two massive square pillars. The rooftop contains break lines that could be produced by auxiliary components or hundreds of years of weathering (for example, lightning), yet it is nonetheless noteworthy because it has endured centuries of natural wear and tear.
Arjuna and Draupadi Rathas
With a carved bull in the frontal area, the Arjuna Ratha, neighbouring the Bhima Ratha, is also inadequate in contrast to other larger landmarks and is approximately six times less in size than the Dharmaraja Ratha. The square, two-level ratha contains one sanctuary and is identical to the Dharmaraja Ratha in terms of design and structure, including the cornice, kudus, and haras. However, its shikhara is a beautiful hexagon. The ratha’s dividers are cut into fourteen-figure boards. Four are dvarapalas (Vishnu, a rishi with an understudy, Kartikeya—or Indra—and Shiva with Nandi), while the remaining depict humans at various stages of life. Arjuna Ratha has a lion and Nandi on either side, as does the adjacent Draupadi Ratha, but their introduction indicates that the ratha was not dedicated to Shiva. According to Susan Huntington, the sanctuary may have been dedicated to Ayyappan. With a spherical shikara, the monument appears unusual from the side, incomplete since its unique columns were replaced with modern ones that do not match the surface (or style) of the originals. An elephant stands northwest of Arjuna Ratha.
The Draupadi Ratha, a massive 11 by 11-foot (3.4 by 3.4-meter) monument carved from a single block of granite, is located north of Arjuna Ratha and shares a platform. Dedicated to the fiercest of the furious, Goddess Durga (whose image is cut on the back partition), it resembles a timber cabin with a bended rooftop. There is a carved construction with lions and elephants in place; it is referred to as a ‘temple’, despite the fact that the five were never completed–due to the death of the kind Narasimhavarman I. Although history records Goddess Durga as the muse, the deity has been reported to be from a later age.
