We are in
Mahabalipuram (puram means city), a city in the Indian state of Tamil
Nadu), It is right on the Bay of
Bengal. The area was badly hit by the
2006 tsunami but is pretty much recovered.
Mahabalipuram
has a collection of 7th and 8th century religious monuments
and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There are over 40 ancient monuments and Hindu temples here. Our first stop was at the “Descent of the
Ganges”. This is a massive stone wall
covered with carvings.
**************************************
Video of Stone Wall
*************************************
Immediately adjacent to the wall was a Rock Carved Temple. The temple is hewn from the huge rock and has a lot of columns to stabilized the rock above.
An unfinished part of the carved out stone.
The back wall of the temple was covered more rock carvings.
Nearby monkeys.
Krishna’s Butterball (Paul holding it up and Tara wanting to hold it up but this guy insisted on helping her),
The Rock Cut Varahana Temple,
A nearby temple that we didn't visit. But parts of it were beautiful.
This mandala artist had interesting tubes for sale. Different colored sands or powders are inserted in the tube and the tube then rolled on the ground, making beautify patterns as the sand dropped through the holes in the tube. We didn't buy.
********************************
Video of Mandala Making
********************************
The Ganesha Ratha (a ratha is a spoked wheel chariot or cart…this is of stone),
The complex of Five Rathas.
The complex had huge statues of elephants, lions, and bulls.
There were vendors here, with a lot of colorful goods.
We had a stop to climb up to the old lighthouse. Looked a lot like another temple but it had great views.
Walking to the Shore Temple we had some good views of the beach and a shrine carved in a huge stone.
There were also the Tsunami
temples. The 2006 tsunami shifted
massive amounts of sand that revealed some 7th century temples. These temples had been mentioned in old texts
but had not been found until the tsunami revealed them. They are in the process of excavations at the
site.
These are bee catchers. A lot of them at the excavation site.
The temples were right on the coast where we could see fishing boats.
We also stopped at the Tiger Headed Rock Cut Cave.
More photos at the hotel.
The staff left us a lovely “painting” on the bed…
and this alligator.
This man's job at the hotel restaurant was to swat mosquitoes with his tennis racket-like zapper.
Previous
Next
No comments:
Post a Comment