Mamallapuram Mahabalipuram | |
|---|---|
Suburban of Chennai city, Municipality | |
| Mamallapuram | |
 The town of Mahabalipuram | |
  Mamallapuram | |
| Coordinates:12°37′11″N80°11′40″E / 12.61972°N 80.19444°E /12.61972; 80.19444 | |
| Country | India |
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| District | Chengalpattu |
| Area | |
• Total | 12.568 km2 (4.853 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 12 m (39 ft) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
• Total | 15,172 |
| • Density | 1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Tamil |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 603104 |
| Telephone code | 91–44 |
| Vehicle registration | TN-19[3] |
Mamallapuram (also known asMahabalipuram[4]), is a town inChengalpattu district in the southeastern Indianstate ofTamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century HinduGroup of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is one of the famous tourist sites in India.[5] The ancient name of the place is Thirukadalmallai. It is a part ofChennai Metropolitan Area. It is a satellite town ofChennai.[6]
Mamallapuram was one of two major port cities in thePallava kingdom. The town was named after Pallava kingNarasimhavarman I, who was also known as Mamalla.[7]Along with economic prosperity, it became the site of a group of royal monuments, many carved out of the living rock. These are dated to the 7th and 8th centuries:rathas (temples in the form of chariots),mandapas (cave sanctuaries), the giant open-airrock relief theDescent of the Ganges, and theShore Temple dedicated toShiva.[5][8] The contemporary town plan was established by theBritish Raj in 1827.[9]
The earliest mention of the city is found in the 1st century work calledPeriplus of the Erythraean Sea by an unknown Greek navigator.Ptolemy, the Greek geographer refers this place as Malange.[10] Mahabalipuram is also known by other names such as Mamallapattana and Mamallapuram. The termMamallapuram means the city of Mamalla, the other name of the famous Pallava EmperorNarasimhavarman I (630-670 CE) who built the famous temples in the city.Thirumangai Alvar, the famous Vaishnavite saint mentions this place as Thirukadalmallai, referring to theSthalasayana Perumal Temple.[11] Another name by which Mahabalipuram has been known to mariners, at least sinceMarco Polo's time is "Seven Pagodas" alluding to theSeven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram that stood on the shore, of which one, theShore Temple, survives.[12]
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Neolithic burial urn, cairn circles and jars with burials dating to the 1st century BCE have been discovered near Mahabalipuram. The Sangam age poem Perumpāṇāṟṟuppadai relates the rule of King Thondaiman Ilam Thiraiyar atKanchipuram of theTondai Nadu portNirppeyyaru which scholars identify with the present-day Mahabalipuram. Chinese coins and Roman coins ofTheodosius I in the 4th century CE have been found at Mahabalipuram revealing the port as an active hub of global trade in the late classical period. TwoPallava coins bearing legends read as Srihari and Srinidhi have been found at Mahabalipuram. The Pallava kings ruled Mahabalipuram fromKanchipuram; the capital of the Pallava dynasty from the 3rd century to 9th century CE, and used the port to launch trade and diplomatic missions toSri Lanka and Southeast Asia. An 8th-century Tamil text written byThirumangai Alvar described this place as Sea Mountain 'where the ships rode at anchor bent to the point of breaking laden as they were with wealth, big trunked elephants and gems of nine varieties in heaps'.[13]
The temples of Mahabalipuram, portraying events described in theMahabharata, were built largely during the reigns of KingNarasimhavarman and his successor Rajasimhavarman and show the movement from rock-cut architecture to structural building. The city of Mahabalipuram was founded by the Pallava kingNarasimhavarman I in the 7th century CE.[12] Themandapa or pavilions and the rathas or shrines shaped as templechariots are hewn from thegranite rock face, while the famedShore Temple, erected half a century later, is built from dressed stone. What makes Mahabalipuram so culturally resonant are the influences it absorbs and disseminates. The Shore Temple includes many reliefs, including one 100 feet (30 m) long and 45 feet (14 m) high, carved out of granite.[14] In 1957 the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture was established to promote and revive the art of making sculptures and temples.
MTC andTNSTC (Villupuram division) operate bus services between Mamallapuram/Mahabalipuram and Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Thiruttani etc. MTC's bus services available from various parts of the Chennai include Deluxe and Air-conditioned buses.[15] Mahabalipuram is 56 km from Chennai.
Mahabalipuram has atropical wet and dry climate. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is Aw. The average annual temperature is 28.4 °C. The temperatures are highest on average in May, at around 32.6 °C. In January, the average temperature is 24.3 °C, the lowest of the year. The average temperatures vary during the year by 8.3 °C. In a year, the average rainfall is 1219 mm. In winter, there is much less rainfall than in summer. The variation in the precipitation between the driest and wettest months is 309 mm.
| Climate data for Mahabalipuram | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.9 (84.0) | 30.4 (86.7) | 32.1 (89.8) | 34.4 (93.9) | 37.6 (99.7) | 37.4 (99.3) | 35.5 (95.9) | 34.9 (94.8) | 34.3 (93.7) | 32.0 (89.6) | 29.3 (84.7) | 28.5 (83.3) | 32.9 (91.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 24.3 (75.7) | 25.4 (77.7) | 27.2 (81.0) | 30.0 (86.0) | 32.6 (90.7) | 32.2 (90.0) | 30.8 (87.4) | 30.2 (86.4) | 29.7 (85.5) | 28.0 (82.4) | 25.8 (78.4) | 24.6 (76.3) | 28.4 (83.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 19.8 (67.6) | 20.4 (68.7) | 22.4 (72.3) | 25.6 (78.1) | 27.6 (81.7) | 27.1 (80.8) | 26.2 (79.2) | 25.5 (77.9) | 25.1 (77.2) | 24.1 (75.4) | 22.4 (72.3) | 20.8 (69.4) | 23.9 (75.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 20 (0.8) | 6 (0.2) | 4 (0.2) | 11 (0.4) | 55 (2.2) | 62 (2.4) | 92 (3.6) | 124 (4.9) | 114 (4.5) | 240 (9.4) | 313 (12.3) | 178 (7.0) | 1,219 (47.9) |
| Average precipitation days | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 71 |
| Source: Climate-data.org[16] | |||||||||||||
The town has a collection of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu religious monuments that has been declared as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.[5][8][17] It is on theCoromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south ofChennai,Tamil Nadu,India.[5]
The site has 40 ancient monuments andHindu temples,[18] including Descent of the Ganges or Arjuna's Penance – one of the largest open-airrock relief in the world.[5][19] The site includes several categories of monuments:ratha temples with an architecture of monolith processional chariots built between 630 and 668 CE; the mandapa viharas with halls and stone roofs with narratives from theMahabharata,Shaktism andVaishnavism; rock reliefs particularlybas-reliefs ofShaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism; stone cut temples particularly those dedicated toShiva that also reverentially displayVishnu and others, built between 695 and 722 CE; and, archaeological excavations with inscriptions some dated to 6th century and earlier.[17][20] The cave temples and monolithic temples were built during thePallava Period.[8][17][21] The site is managed by theArchaeological Survey of India.[22]
Some important structures include:
As of 2001[update] India census, Mahabalipuram had a population of 12,345.[28] Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Mahabalipuram has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 73%: male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 66%. In Mahabalipuram, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.[29]
In October 2019, Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Chinese PresidentXi Jinping visited Arjuna's Penance, the Pancha Rathas complex and the Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram.[30]
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