Stone carvings showcase perfection

by Chanuka Mannapperuma

Situated 60 km south of Chennai, tourist destination Mamallapuram has become popular for its monumental stone carvings. Mamallapuram once served as a port city to the great Pallava kings. The history of this city dates back to more than 2000 years.

Many temples were built in that era and most of them fashioned out of rock, are considered among the oldest in south India and they showcase the Dravidian style of architecture to perfection.

The most famous of all is the Shore Temple situated at a picturesque location just beside the Bay of Bengal. The Temple is at its imperious best to look under the moonlit skies.

The temple was battered by waves and winds thirteen centuries ago and was a victim of peoples, ignorance. But now, after Mamallapuram being tagged as a World heritage site by UNESCO, it gets the deserved attention and accolades. There are other tourist places worth a visit in Mamallapuram like the Panch Rathas, Arjuna's Penance and many other carved caves like the Mahishasurmardini Cave.

Mamallapuram being adjacent to a sea, the climate here is somewhat hot throughout the year but can be visited at any time of the year. The people in the city of Mamallapuram are very warm and hospitable. Majority of the population here understand English, which makes moving around in the city easier for tourists. Travellers who love to explore new and fascinating places are in for a treat in this resplendent city.

Every monument is completely different from the other and is a marvel in itself. Nature has also been very generous to the city, beaches are quite pleasing and inviting, so bring along your swim suit and enjoy the refreshing waters. Shopperholics too will not leave Mamallapuram empty handed.

There are immense items to choose from locally made handicrafts, artifacts and many home made delicacies. Get aboard for an experience so rare and precious that you would take back lasting memories.

Mamallapuram is a city that has monuments as grand and majestic that you will not find a competition anywhere in India. The monuments here have everything that make a site memorable, tradition, history, piety, and magnetism that attracts hoards of tourist to Mamallapuram. The city contains nearly forty structures of different kind, like temples of which, one is the biggest in the world.

Stone sculpture is one of the sharp art in the world. I saw these unbelievable granite carvings in the Mamallapuram area.

Mamallapuram is very famous for stone carvings (specially granite). Once you get to the Light House Road in Mamallapuram you can see granite carvings. There are about 50 shops around the Light House lane.

Owner of the 'Sri Ramaiah' granite carving shop, Professor S. Shanmugam Chellappa exchanged his valuable views with me. He said, he has been doing this ancestral business.

"I have 10 workers in my shop and they are specialists in the field. We also do granite carvings. To do a seven feet statue it takes more than three months time. For a one foot statute it takes three to five days. I use to send our products to Sri Lanka as well," he added. He further said,he has a good demand for his products both local and foreign.

"We do statues like Ganeshwara, Vishnu, Parvathi, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Krishnu Murthi etc, he explained.

I took my leave of him and I felt that the monumental city has been carved in my memory during that brief visit, and what I saw is beyond marvellous. It was an experience as sculpture and art naturally carved are things that cannot be erased.

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