Mahabalipuram

Saturday, we drove 50 kilometers outside of Chennai to visit Mahabalipuram, an area with 100+ monuments carved during the reign of King Mamalla (630-670 BC), after whom the site is named. We didn't see all 100+, but visited a representation of the things that are there. We saw shrines that were monoliths carved from one piece of stone subtractively and from the top downwards (pics 1,2,3), to rock-cut caves, to the bas-reliefs, one of which depicted a 7th century village scene with an elephant family on its face (pic 4). Many of these were not discovered underneath the sand until the 1800s. I talked a little with the professor who is staying with us in Chennai about the 12-26-04 tsunami (they call it Black Sunday) and its impact on this state. My guide book said that about 8000 died here; he said it was more like 50,000. He went on to say that the government did not release the actual numbers because people would have panicked. For archaeologists like himself, he said, the tsunami was a "blessing in disguise." It did not harm the structures here because they are built on bedrock, but it did remove beach sand, revealing more sites. He said that is something he could/would never say in front of the locals because of the despair caused by the disaster. One of the temples in this area that we visited was on the shore (pics 5 & 6), giving us our first real look at the Bay of Bengal. It was hard to imagine this site, which covers acres and acres, as a thriving ancient seaport. It must have been quite something to see.

Next, we went to Dakshina Chitra, a "living museum" of sorts. We were treated to a typical South Indian meal (pic 7)and then went to a shadow puppet performance that had been scheduled for our group (pic 8). I had always thought the puppets were small, magnified by the backlighting. I was amazed when, after the show, the puppeteer brought them out for us to see and they were 4-6 feet tall. She said that she was working with a smaller than normal stage today; the puppets are usually around 10 feet tall! Each one is made of goat skin and beautifully painted (pics 9 & 10). Little holes are punched through to allow the light to shine through. The jointed puppets are attached to sticks and usually require a crew of 8-9, including narrarator and musicians, to perform a show.

The purpose of this 10-acre village is to acquaint people with South Indian culture, from pottery and dance demonstrations to touring traditional village homes that were purchased from homeowners in various states and disassembled, then reassembled here (complete with the original furnishings). This has only been open since 1996, and they hope to continue adding on to it. As you can imagine, everywhere we went today was a prime school fieldtrip destination, so we were constantly seeing groups of students in various colored uniforms frolicking about, weary teachers in tow. Speaking of cultural things, I went to the mall behind the hotel (400+ shops each with their own hawker trying to get me inside). My most exciting purchase was a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut!