Mammalapuram Temple

Heading south from Chennai along the coastal road we caught our first glimpses of the Bay of Bengal. We had been met by a professor from Annamalai University's ag department, who had been drafted as our tour guide, along with a driver. A professional driver seems essential after what I've seen of traffic in India. DO NOT try this at home!

We took the coastal road rather than the main highway because it took us to the site of the ancient temple of Mammalapuram. It was built mainly during the 7th to 9th centuries, under the Pallavi dynasty - think of what Europeans were doing around 600 AD . . . and carved mainly out of huge granite outcroppings "in situ," right where they found them.

This is what we first saw as we approached an outlying site called "The Tiger Cave."

 
Walking around these big boulders to the left, this is what we came upon.

Here we are, me, one of the IRRI team who traveled with us, and Crissan.

This one is another whole section, a short walk away from the Tiger Cave.

In the place of honor inside this cave is a black obsidian sculpture of a "lingam," revered as one of the avatars taken by Shiva, one of the Hindu deities, a symbol of "male creative energy." The "yoni,"visible here as the ring through which the lingam rises, is the symbol of "female creative energy" associated with the goddess Shakti. Seen together as here they can symbolize the duality of nature or infinity. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingam, briefly quoted here, for more detail.) This symbolic form crops up again and again in India. Note the fresh flowers adorning the top, indicating a recent offering of reverence or respect for the spirit of the Lingam.

Here's another stone suggesting the same linga form, but naturally occurring, with some small marks from a granite carver at some time in the past.

A little further on, nearing the sea shore, we came upon this huge piece of granite. It was uncovered only recently, as a result of the terrible tsunami of December 2004. You can see the faint line showing where the ground surface used to be, about midway up the rock.

Below that line, you may be able to make out some faintly carved parallel lines in the rock, most easily seen in the shadowy side to the lower left. A knowledgeable observer realized that this suggested the possibility that this too was a part of the temple system, and an archaeological dig is now under way.

 And here is that same rock seen from the other side, with temple walls and other structures revealed around it.

 Since we were now just a few steps from the shore, we walked out to the Bay. A fishing boat was pulled up on shore, and if you look closely you may see some others with the similar high-prowed shape out on the water.

Next we drove into the town of Mammalapuram, where we saw several more granite structures carved in amazing form and detail, all telling stories of the deities and the land.

The vertical division to the left of the elephant is said to represent the Ganges River.

There seems to be some disco dancing going on here.

And as always, cows are in fashion. Milking time here.

Note the free-standing leg on this otherwise bas relief work.

One of many guides our host hired to tell us about what we

're seeing.

In this carving at the base of a pillar, we see an antelope with a calf, but now cover the calf and the head of the mother. Do you see an elephant? NOTHING in India is what it seems . . .

This huge boulder is said to be immovable even by mechanical means.

Here we see a group of lions with a range of influences, a sphinx-like creature on the left and a Roman influence in the one to the right.

This is known as the Sea Shore Temple, as it built on high ground overlooking the Bay of Bengal. It is a structure built of assembled pieces of stone, and was apparently at one time washed into the sea and reconstructed!

And finally, one last lingering look at yet another lingam . . .