Anyway, after we visited this place, we proceeded to the World Heritage Site of Shore Temple. The carvings are really beautiful and this is from the period of 8th century. The Archaeological Department is doing some restoration work to further preserve these amazing sculptures. At the same time some excavation work is going on. A dyke has now been built around the temple to protect it from the sea waves especially after the Tsunami. Here we got another guide who helped us understand the marvelous temple even better. It is so amazing to see this temple stand next to the sea shore even after so many years of its creation during the reign of the Pallavas. We also saw Arjuna’s Penance, a huge carving on the side of the cliff which depicts a scene from the Mahabharata. If only the weather was more conducive, we could have lingered some more. We also saw a lighthouse and a cave we visited on the way. We had to leave the kids in the car leaving the ac on to protect them from the severe heat. On our way out and back to the ECR we saw these little shops lined along the road displaying these really wonderful sculptures made out of stone and granite showing Gods and goddesses and animals. Mahabalipuram truly is a sculpture town and a delightful place to understand our heritage. We proceeded on the ECR to the VGP Golden Beach Resort just outside Chennai.
We bid goodbye to Pondicherry and leave for Mahabalipuram, it is at a distance of about 100 kms. We start at around 9ish in the morning. We take the East Coast Road (ECR) which is a scenic 2-lane highway right upto Chennai. In many parts on the road, one can see the scenic coast. We did stop once on the way to take the pictures of the beautiful Coast and saw flamingos at a distance. The ride was nice and we reached Mahabalipuram around 12 noon. It was very hot and humid. Our first stop was Pandava’s Rathas which are in reality 5 unfinished temples built way back in the 7th century AD. We met a very able guide who explained about each temple to us and it was a good, learning experience. His Hindi was also pretty flawless :). This is the first time I’ve been to Tamil Nadu and it was a big departure for me to hear Tamil all the time. Living in cosmopolitan Bangalore, one gets so used to so many languages, it hits one when the scenario is otherwise.