Mahabalipuram Travel Guide

Mahabalipuram is a seaside village with a rich heritage. A flourishing port town in TamilNadu during the reign of the Pallava rulers, it is famous for its rock - cut art. Mahabalipuram is a part of the Golden Triangle circuit of South India along with Chennai and Kanchipuram.

History of Mahabalipuram

Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram as it was formerly known, is an enigma for historians. Nothing is known as to why the Pallava rulers of south India chiseled in stone a fabulous "open-air museum" of sculpture. Most of the temples and rock carvings of this place were built during the reigns of Narsinha Varman I (AD 630-668) and Narsinha Varman II (AD 700-728). Though the initial kings of Pallava dynasty were followers of Jainism, the conversion of Mahendra Varman (AD 600-630) to Shaivism led most of the monuments to be related with Shiva or Vishnu.