The Diary Game || A day trip to Mamallapuram

Dear friends,
Wish you a Happy Diwali

Last week we went to Mamallapuram, India's most famous touristic and art culture city of Tamils, I was busy with other posts for the past week so I couldn't post that post. However, I'm posting that post today because it has some very artistic sculptures, sketches, and recipes that I think you'll love.

My daughter participates in sports and for that she had to go while in Chennai she had five days of training so we left her in Chennai for training and we took half stay in a resort in Mamallapuram and I only my husband and son came to Mamallapuram.

There are five main places to visit in Mamallapuram one is the Shore temple the second is the light near the Butter Butter Rock the third is the so called Five Chariot sculptures the fourth is the beach the fifth is the Tiger cave Out of these we were able to visit only three places and we are posting them here.

Shore Temple

The first constructed temple in Tamil Nadu was the beach temple at Mapallapuram. This temple was built by the Pallava king Rajasimha, also known as Narasimhavarman. This temple is one of the forty four ancient symbols, this temple is forty five feet high. The temple is considered to be the most important temple in South India that celebrates the sculptural traditions of the Tamils.

This temple is said to be the example and cultural model of the temples built in South India. The beach temple in Mamallapuram is made up of different stones cut and stacked on top of each other. The temple was declared as one of the World Heritage Sites in 1984.

This temple is under the protection of UNESCO and the central government is maintaining this temple. They are maintaining this temple very beautifully. The temple is reserved for tourism with more restrictions. Many foreign tourists come here to visit and take photos. My son talked to a tourist girl from England and befriended her. We took a photo with her.

Pancha Ratham:

Here there are 5 chariot sculptures carved out of stone rocks called Pancha Ratham and the five chariots are monolithic temples resembling wooden chariots believed to have been built around 1300 years ago.

Looking at the entire complex, it is difficult to imagine how they were all carved out of a Hg solid rocks. Each chariot looks like an individual structure, but if you look closely at their base, you will notice how they are all connected.

Butterball

Butterball or butter rock Although not a rock-cut temple or cave like all the others on this list, it's a rock you definitely don't want to miss! Located just a few minutes' walk from the Varaha Cave Temple, and light house of Mamallapuram it's hard to miss.

Sculpture skill

Apart from tourism, idol making has been the main industry in this town since that time till today people here have been making rock sculptures for fun and selling them to temples and exporting them to foreign countries.

In Mamallapuram we can see such sculptures in all the streets. They make sculptures and sell and trade there. We can witness the carvings on huge rocks. The sculptures made in this way are displayed there. While we were driving we were amazed to see many such sculptures and took pictures of them.

Shops here sell sculptures, artworks and marine artefacts. We also visited them and I purchased a handmade handbag from them. I bought this handbag as a memorable thing of my visit to Mamallapuram.

If we wanted to buy the sculptures they were too heavy. The most beautiful sculptures were made of stone and weighed around 30 to 50 kg each so we didn't buy them as it would be difficult to carry in a car.

We stayed at Nirvana Boutique Resort in Mamallapuram which is near to the tourist spots and had facilities like snooker, table tennis, gym and indoor game as well as swimming pool and spa. We only stayed for one day so we could not use them due to lack of time but my son and my husband played swimming pool for about two hours in the morning .