Group of monuments at Mahabalipuram
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How it came to be
Mahabalipuram is a port on the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu, southern India, where the kings of the Pallava dynasty carved temples out of the rock in the 7th and 8th centuries. Its other name, Mamallapuram, comes from 'Mamalla', 'great wrestler', a title of the 7th-century king Narasimhavarman I.
The rathas, temples cut from single rocks in the shape of chariots, date from about 630 to 668, while the built Shore Temple is attributed to King Rajasimha (Narasimhavarman II) in the early 8th century. The great relief known as the Descent of the Ganges, or Arjuna's Penance, is one of the largest open-air rock reliefs in the world.
European sailors called the place the 'Seven Pagodas' after the temple towers they saw from the sea. Mamallapuram became the official name in 1957, the site was restored after 1960 and is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India. It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1984, and in 2004 the Indian Ocean tsunami briefly exposed the shore near Saluvankuppam, revealing inscriptions and structures.
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