A Trip to Mahabalipuram

It was the last week of June ‘05 and I completed my M.Tech exams on June 24th. I was to leave Pondy on 29th to Kochi. My Friend Gireesh came to Pondy to help me with luggage and computer. He was there for 2 days and he suggested that we have a trip to Mahabalipuram. I have already had a trip there but since he has not seen it, I thought it would be a nice trip. So we decided to go to Mahabalipuram on 26th. Early morning at 5.30 am we started out trip. So we got into a bus popularly called as the ECR Express (which travels from Pondy to Chennai).

The journey to Mamallapuram was through East Coast Road-the Scenic beauty Highway which runs through coast. Around 8.30 am,we reached Mahabalipuram. Straight we went to a restaurant and had our breakfast. Gireesh had brought his handycam, so we started rolling the cam throughout the roads also and all were watching us. We straight away headed towards the rocks and gardens. Mahabalipuram, also known as the City of Bali, is famous for Pallava’s Art and Culture. The places were called the Arjuna’s Penance and Krishna’s Butterball. The famous Arjuna’s Penance and the Krishna Mandapa, adorn massive rocks near the centre of the village. Arjuna’s Penance, a colossal and massive relief made on two huge boulders, is the universe itself in stone. 27 metres long and 9 metres high, it is perhaps the world’s largest bas-relief. The butterball was a huge circular rock, standing on a slopping surface, believed to be the butterball of Lord Krishna. The Ganesh mandapa is an active shrine even today, with the idol of the elephant-god being revered by the faithful, fourteen centuries after it was first consecrated. We climbed through the rocks with the cam and the sun was glazing on us with its full intensity. The next spot was the famous Five Rathas, which have been named for the Pandava brothers, the heroes of the epic Mahabharata. Out of the Five Rathas, four of them were carved out of a single long granite boulder. The next spot was the old light house and final destination was the shore temple with its beautifull carving and rock cuts. The windswept and surf-beaten Shore Temple, the mute tireless sentinel of the shore, is the ultimate expression of Mahabalipuram. A three-in-one abode of God-a Vishnu temple positioned between two Shiva temples, is a visual delight with its precincts abounding in architectural masterpieces. On either side of it the sea spreads, illimitable and infinite. The compound wall of this temple is lined with charming sculptures of Nandi the bull while the figure of Vishnu is present in the sanctum sanctorum. But nothing seems to be effected by the recent Tsunami attack. Gireesh was busy taking the video of a few gals who just dropped in at the shore temple. By now it was 12.30 pm and the sun was pouring heat on us and because of this, we skipped the beach. Now it was time for us to return back. We took the bus back to Pondy and reached by 2 pm and headed straight to the canteen to have lunch. That night by 11.30 bus we both returned back to Kochi.