Fabulous Mahabs

Inspite of living so close to Mammalapuram, where the 7th century Pallava kingdom flourished, I have never found time to visit the place. So on the Saturday after Independence Day (these days it is safer to be at home on such important days because of threats of bomb blasts), we took the ECR route to Mahabalipuram.

The stone temple close to the seashore was first on my agenda. It was smaller than I anticipated and people swarmed like bees to it. One thing that irritated me and my hubby were two North Indian ladies having their meals near the sanctum sanctorum. By the time we reported to a guard outside (in my broken Hindi; looks like there are a lot of inter-state postings in the ASI) the ladies had finished their lunch. It upset me that I didnt have the courage to shoo them away from defiling that precious relic of Indian art.

That is not a pensive mood, just looking down to protect my eyes from the glare of the midday sun.

There are lions sculpted in stone all around the temple, some cemented to the base but most of them just balancing beautifully. There is a park around the temple now, which probably explains the rush.

We also visited the Five Rathas, Krishna's butter ball (a huge boulder balancing on a rocky surface; it has been there for centuries together) and Thirumurthi cave (in picture) close by. There are more historical sites but one needs more than a day and more energy to view them at leisure.