Mamallapuram
| Mamallapuram மாமல்லபுரம் |
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 India
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| State : | Tamil Nadu | ||
| District : | Kanchipuram | ||
| Sub-district : | Tirukalukundram | ||
| Location : | 12 ° 38 ′ N , 80 ° 10 ′ E | ||
| Height : | 10 m | ||
| Area : | 12.85 km² | ||
| Residents : | 15,172 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 1181 inhabitants / km² | ||
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Mamallapuram ( Tamil : மாமல்லபுரம் Māmallapuram ) or Mahabalipuram ( மகாபலிபுரம் Makābalipuram ) is a place with about 16,000 inhabitants in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu . Mamallapuram is one of the most important archaeological sites in South India with numerous architectural monuments from the Pallava period (7th to 9th centuries). The temple district of Mamallapuram has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 . Because of this and thanks to its sandy beaches, Mamallapuram is one of the most important tourist attractions in Tamil Nadu.
etymology
The name forms Mamallapuram and Mahabalipuram are equally common. Mamallapuram is named after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I (630-668), who was nicknamed Mahamalla ("great wrestler"). The name Mahabalipuram is a corruption that refers to the mythical demon Mahabali .
location
Mamallapuram is located on the Coromandel coast in the south of the Bay of Bengal at an altitude of approx. 10 m above sea level. d. M. The place is about 55 km (driving distance) southwest of Chennai (formerly Madras ); Kanchipuram , the former capital of the Pallava Empire, is approx. 68 km northwest and the former French colony Puducherry ( Pondicherry ) is approx. 125 km southwest. The climate is tropical and warm; Rain falls mainly during the monsoon months from August to December.
population
Official population statistics have only been kept since 1991 and are published regularly. The increase in the population in recent decades is mainly due to the continued immigration of families from the surrounding area.
| year | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 |
| Residents | k. A. | 12,345 | 15.172 |
A good 88% of the population are Hindus , a good 7% are Christians and just under 4.5 percent are Muslims . The proportion of the male population is around 12% higher than the female population, but this is mainly due to immigrant workers. The main language, as in all of Tamil Nadu, is Tamil , which is spoken by 94% of the population as their mother tongue.
economy
Mamallapuram is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Tamil Nadu. The place attracts both foreign visitors and local tourists, especially day-trippers from nearby Chennai. An important visitor magnet is the annual dance festival, which in 2008 alone attracted 126,000 foreign tourists. As in all of Tamil Nadu, the trend in visitor numbers is increasing rapidly. In Mamallapuram there are numerous hotels of different categories as well as other tourist infrastructure. A large part of the inhabitants of Mamallapuram live directly or indirectly from tourism.
In addition, Mamallapuram is traditionally a center of the art of stone carving . The artisans Mamallapurams produce partly for the souvenir market, but also for new temples and the like. In order to maintain the traditional legacy of stone carving, the School of Architecture & Art was founded in Mamallapuram in 1957 . Today it is attended by 220 students. There is also fishing.
The Madras nuclear power plant is located about 9 km (as the crow flies) to the southwest of the neighboring town of Kalpakkam .
history
Mamallapuram was the most important port of the Pallava Empire, which rose to become the strongest power in Tamil Nadu in the 7th century AD. The capital of the Pallava kings was Kanchipuram . Until the fall of the Pallava in the 8th century, Mamallapuram prospered through the flourishing sea trade with Southeast Asia . During this time the numerous architectural monuments of Mamallapuram were built. The temples of Mamallapuram, together with the temple buildings in Kanchipuram from the Pallava period, are among the oldest surviving structures in South India. They form the starting point for the development of the Dravida style , which characterizes the temple architecture of South India and radiated as far as Southeast Asia (see Pallava architecture ).
The tsunami after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004 removed sand deposits off the coast of Mamallapuram and also led to a lowering of the sea level. As a result, numerous archaeological finds were briefly exposed under and above water, possibly from the earlier port city and a temple from the 7th century. The Archaeological Survey of India started underwater archeology on February 17th, 2005 .
Attractions
Coastal temple
The Coast Temple ( Shore Temple ) Mamallapuram is located right on the beach. Built at the end of the 8th century under the Pallava king Rajasimha Narasimhavarman II , it is one of the oldest free-standing stone temples in South India. With its temple tower ( vimana ), which rises above the cella ( garbhagriha ), it was formative for the development of the Dravida style . Inside the temple houses a shrine dedicated to the god Shiva with a linga as well as a side shrine for the god Vishnu , who is depicted here as Narayana resting on the mythical serpent Ananta .
According to tradition, the coastal temple is the only one from a complex of seven temples that has survived. The complex is said to have stretched over 10 km along the coast. The temple, which has survived for twelve centuries at its location near the coast, is now protected from erosion by an enclosure and breakwaters made of boulders. These blocks, deposited during Indira Gandhi's reign , allowed the temple to survive the December 26, 2004 tsunami .
Five Rathas
The Five Rathas ( Pancha Ratha ) are a group of five monolithic temples around 1.5 km south of the town center. A Hindu processional float that replicates a temple is called ratha . The Five Rathas are named after the mythical Pandava brothers from the Mahabharata epic - Yudhishthira (or Dharmaraja), Bhima , Arjuna , Nakula , Sahadeva - and their common wife Draupadi .
Each of the five monuments, which were carved out of the rock in one piece in the 7th century, has different stylistic features. At no point in time were the temples actually used, rather it seems that they were simply intended to experiment with different architectural forms. The Dharmaraja and Arjuna Ratha are crowned by a step pyramid with a hemispherical end ("umbrella dome"). They thus form the prototype of the temple tower ( vimana ), which is characteristic of the early Dravida style. The Bhima-Ratha has a barrel roof on an elongated floor plan based on the model of the Buddhist Chaitya halls. The design of the barrel roof was later adopted as the end of the south Indian gate towers ( gopurams ). On the other hand, the Draupadi-Ratha, which has the shape of a hut with a thatched roof, and the Nakula-Sahadeva-Ratha, which has an apsidial architecture and combines the elements of the step pyramid and the barrel roof, had no stylistic effect. In front of the Draupadi-Ratha are two smaller rock sculptures, one in the shape of an elephant, the other in the shape of a lion. Behind the Draupadi and the Arjuna Ratha, which stand on a common platform, is the bull Nandi .
Rock relief "Descent of the Ganga"
The "Descent of the Ganga" is a bas-relief created in the 7th century . At 12 m high and 33 m wide, it is one of the largest (perhaps the largest) rock relief in the world. The relief is mostly interpreted as a representation of the descent of the goddess Ganga (the personified river Ganges ). According to Hindu mythology, King Bhagiratha made the Ganges flow from heaven to purify the souls of his ancestors. But things did not happen as planned and the king realized that the river was going to flood the whole earth. Therefore, he repented with the aim of seeking help from Shiva to avert the disaster that was to come. So the god descended to the earth and conquered the Ganges by letting it flow through his hair. This miracle attracted a multitude of beings who came to see it.
The gap between the two rocks is the most famous part of the bas-relief; a little to the left of this is the figure of Shiva in the upper area. Below you can find ruins of a water tank, which suggest that water once flowed here, which should represent the Ganges. In addition to numerous divine images, the relief depicts village life in India in the 7th century. In the upper part, to the right of the gap, you can see the donor and patron, Pallava King Mahendravarman (ruled approx. 615–630) in the company of his three Wives. Below is a yogi cat in meditation position, dancing around mice. The scene depicts an Indian popular saying that advises to be suspicious of false sadhus .
This relief is sometimes referred to as " Arjuna's penance ". The interpretation has not yet been finally clarified.
More Attractions
To the west of the center of Mamallapuram there is an elongated rock about 500 m long. Numerous other monolithic temples and cave temples are scattered over this area . The most important of these are the Krishna mandapa and the Dharmaraja mandapa, the Mahishasura cave and the Varaha cave. They are all decorated with ornate bas-reliefs. In the Varaha cave there are depictions of Varahas (the boar-shaped Avatar Vishnus), the goddess Gajalakshmi flanked by two elephants, the goddess Durga and trivikramas or Vamanas (another Avatar Vishnus). The Mahishasura Cave impresses with reliefs that show Vishnu resting on the serpent Ananta and Durga fighting the buffalo demon Mahishasura. The relief in the Krishna mandapa shows the well-known scene in which God Krishna lifts up Govardhana mountain.
A popular photo motif is the nearby "Butterkugel Krishnas ", a huge rock ball lying on a rock ridge, which gives the impression of being able to roll down at any moment.
Surroundings
On a beach about 8 km northeast of Mamallapuram there is a cave temple ( Tiger Cave ) that is well worth seeing with some rock reliefs nearby.
literature
- R. Nagaswamy: Mahabalipuram. Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2008 (English).
- Michael D. Rabe: The Great Penance at Māmallapuram. Deciphering a Visual Text. Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai 2001 (English).
Web links
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- Mamallapuram on the side of the Archeological Survey of India (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mamallapuram - 2011 data
- ↑ Entry on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Center ( English and French ).
- ↑ Mamallapuram - Map with altitude information (Eng.)
- ↑ Mamallapuram - climate tables . de.climate-data.org
- ↑ Mamallapuram - Census 1991–2011 (Eng.)
- ↑ Mamallapuram - Census (Eng.)
- ↑ K. A. Nilakantha Sastri: The Illustrated History of South India. From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 66-68.
- ↑ tsunami2004-india.org ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (engl.)
- ↑ National Institute of Oceanography ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (engl.)
