Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) is a port city near Chennai, TN, India. Mahabalipuram was a 7th century port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas around 60 km south from the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The name Mamallapuram is believed to have been given after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, who took on the epithet Maha-malla (great wrestler), as the favourite sport of the Pallavas was wrestling. It has various historic monuments built largely between the 7th and the 9th centuries, and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For more information about the place, please visit the Wikipedia page
Courtesy: Wikipedia
Mahabalipuram was my first one-day tour with my DSLR. The 60-kilometer drive by motorcycle was a nice experience in the early morning. After reaching, my friends and I walked straight to the shore temple.
The clouds were beautiful that day and the cool breeze from the sea was very soothing and pleasant. I tried out some uncommon angles and got some cool pictures.
The below picture shows the “Butter Ball” at Mahabalipuram. Wikitravel quotes “Krishna’s Butterball is a giant natural rock perched on a hillside, seemingly in defiance of all laws of physics—it’s a common sight to see visitors placing hands under the stone posing for pics, which looks as though they are holding it! The rock provides welcome shade if you dare to sit underneath it, and local kids have discovered that the slippery nearby hillside also makes a great natural slide.”
It is told that British rulers, when they had occupied and ruled Mahabalipuram, tried to move the Butter Ball using huge ships and failed to move it by an inch. This amazing natural rock simply leaves us all in awe.
Some more pictures to share with you all!
The below picture shows the Pancha Rathas (Five Raths), a monolith rock-cut temple from the late 7th century. The five monolithic temples are named after the Pandavas (Arjuna, Bhima, Yudhishtra, Nakula and Sahadeva) and Draupadi known from the Mahabharata, an ancient Sanskrit epic of India. It is not possible to cover all the five raths in a single frame.
Below picture is one of the Pancha Rathas.
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