On the Way to Pondicherry

On Friday, 21 April we flew from B’lore to Chennai, and were met by our dear friends, Ruth and Mani Subramanian. We spent the night at the Guest House on the campus of IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) where Mani is a visiting professor. Ruth had arranged a driver for us and they graciously loaned us their car. We headed south to Pondicherry after breakfast on Saturday morning.

Our first stop was just north of Mamallapuram at Tiger Cave, right in front of the Bay of Bengal. We were met and given a personal tour by Coconut Raj, a self-appointed tour guide who lives across the highway from this monument. Tiger Cave, a shrine to Durga, is a 1300 year old stone carving of 11 tiger heads surrounding a stage for dancing. Raj told us they still hold celebrations in front of Tiger Cave from 25 December until 31 January each year (just as the guide book said!). He also pointed out Watchman’s Rock, a 50 ft. high lookout point, and then took us a short distance away from the main grounds to where there were new excavations going on. The tsunami that struck in December, 2004 washed away part of the sand and they discovered there were more ruins there!

Our next stop down the Coromandel coast was Mamallapuram, the stone-carving capital of India, where we heard the constant rhythms of chisels chipping granite (audio). Its ancient monuments include the famous Shore Temple and a batch of other extraordinary rock sculptures. Originally the largest of seven temples set together, the Shore Temple is the only one remaining. The sea reached up and carried the other smaller temples away. Again, due to the effects of the tsunami, more ancient carvings were discovered, as well as the remains of the first port in Mamallapuram, built by the Portuguese in the 1600’s.

One of the most impressive rock carvings between 1200 and 1400 years old took 200 years to complete. From a single piece of granite were carved five temples, called rathas, all with different styles of architecture and dedicated to different gods, and a life-sized elephant!

The last sculptures we viewed were two bas-reliefs called Arjuna’s Penance and the Krishna Mandapa. The Krishna Mandapa shows Krishna holding up a mountain with one hand, surrounded by his wife and consorts. The Arjuna’s Penance erupts with endearing and naturalistic renditions of animals. These are beautiful, lively sculptures that depict animals, people and gods in everyday life and are somewhat whimsical, as opposed to the more formal statues dedicated to the gods.

We stopped here for lunch, and found the wonderful Sunrise restaurant where the owner showed us the fresh lobster(front), fish and shrimp before he cooked the fish and shrimp to perfection for us. After that wonderful respite, we were back on the road to Pondicherry.