… some of them look like seaside holiday resorts: Mamallapuram
Only about 70km from the chaotic new India bustle of Chennai is the Mamallapuram world heritage site. The primary attraction here is a wealth of 10th century temples and stone carvings … and the beach … and the European restaurants …. and the street hustlers selling you as many crappy bead necklaces they think you can afford … oh hell, are all touristy seaside resorts the same or what!.
The iconic sculpture here is the shore temple, but it is inundated with tourists, pilgrims, and hustlers. This is the main world heritage zone, the one that you have to pay for, and for my money, the most beautiful pieces are elsewhere. The temple is still active, but as more of a tourist temple than something that is alive in the hearts and minds of the believers. About 100m off into the ocean you can see the tops of two other shore temples that were still on the beach in the 1950’s. Interesting to ponder the reasons for the disappearing temples… nobody talks about the shore temples plural … whether it’s an early example of the consequences of global warming, or the gods were offended by the tourist circus … it’s anybody’s guess.
About 200m into the global warming safety margin, is Arjuna’s pennance. There are several temples and monuments here, but the pennance, a wall of stone carvings about 30m by 10m, is a stunner. It’s been carved according to the contour of the rock, and once had a fountain running down it’s middle.
It’s used as the backdrop for the Mamallapuram dance festival. A few of the dance pundits I ran into in the Mamallapuram cafe scenes seemed to think it was a fairly low grade affair artistically, coasting on the strength of this stunning work of art.
This chunk of the heritage zone here is as much a favourite picnic spot for indian families. Being a totally profane westerner, I decided that this would be a nice place to sit down in the seat in the middle of the temple. The locals thought this was so funny that it was worth a photo … this is the spot reserved for the statue of the god. All I can say about that is that the god’s eye view is a bit drab … all you can see is people gawking at you.
I’m not sure whether the sculpture below is world heritage listed or not, but it’s outside the fence (just, about 100m from the shore temple)… so as far as India is concerned, it’s fair game. But the graffitti touched me with a bit of a story, so I hope it survives at least a generation or two. It reads “Today my best friend saved my life”.
There are a lot of interesting temples, friezes, sculptures and artifacts in and around the Mamallapuram area. A lot of small villages and shrines. The way to see it is to get a small motorbike or scooter and leave the seaside holdiay resort side of Mamallapuram for the Europeans. For me, one of the most precious is the Eagle temple. It is a long way up the stairs, some 500 or so, but the view is stunning. Of course, to get there you have to wade through a battery of temple hustlers and flower sellers. You have to pay a tenner for someone to mind your shoes, a fiver to get in, twenty smackers to take photos, fifty if you want a video. I’d managed to hustle the shoe lady down to five, but as soon as she saw that I had no change, she took my tenner without so much as a thank you very much. If I were god, I’d be contemplating what to do with the thunderbolts in my back pocket. At the top, you can make an offering (paper money only, though any coins you offer won’t be rejected), and have a few prayers and wishes made for your well being. But cynicism aside, it is a well kept temple, and the view is really amazing. Shiva certainly has a nice pad in these parts.
Just as I was leaving, I sat on the steps to watch the monkeys pulling nits out of each others bums and play a bit of clarinet. It had been a nice visit, and the view of the hills was pretty damned inspiring. After a about 29 minutes of noodling one of the acolytes popped over for a chat, and decided to show me around. He pointed out a few of the sights and lured me back into the temple. When he then suggested I come back into the temple for a pooja (offering), I thought oh my god I only have one skin, but what he wanted was me to offer some tunes on the clarinet. I was a bit nervous about this, but this was a chance too good to turn down. Shame no recordings, because the acoustics in the inner temple were just amazing. I played a couple of geetam (basic student songs) dedicated to shiva and ganesh with a fairly western modal improv between. As cheesy as it may be, this was a beautiful moment, and the highlight of my trip to Mabs (as the euro travellers call Mamallapuram).
This is my first Indian sunset over anything other than a jagged row of slums and skyscrapers. It was worth the wait, worth the walk to the top of the eagle temple, and worth the consequences. When I get down from here, I will realize that a. the underpowered motor scooter I have hired doesn’t have working lights of any kind. b. There is no moon, and it is getting really dark. c. I don’t know how much petrol there is in the tank. d. Most of the traffic on the road is at night and headed straight towards me. An entertaining drive back to the cycle shop, indeed.
March 3rd, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Kewl 🙂