The city served as the port for the chief Pal-
lava capital at KANCHIPURAM. It was situated at the
mouth of the Palar River, 32 miles south of Madras
(Chennai). The river long ago changed course.
A granite hill about 100 feet high and a half a
mile in length, and a smaller granite outcropping
farther south, provided the site and the raw mate-
rial for the sculptures. Each work is carved out of
solid stone, without the use of any brick or mor-
tar, and without assembly of individual pieces.
The technique was also used at the Kailasanatha
temple at ELLORA TEMPLE contemporaneously.
The most dramatic carving, “Descent of the
GANGES” (also known as ARJUNA’S Penance),
covers an entire cliff 30 feet high and 60 feet
wide. It shows the Ganges’s descending from
heaven, flanked on both sides by NAGAS and
NAGINIS. Deities, human beings, and animals
all face the fissure in the rock where the Gan-
ges descends in attitudes of adoration. A small
shrine immediately to the left has a standing
SHIVA image, before which bows Bhagiratha, who
was responsible for the Ganges’s descent. Above
the temple Bhagiratha is shown doing penance,
emaciated, holding his arms above his head, as
was on the orthodox ascetic practice. There are
monumental elephants to the right of him and
a cat, delightfully imitating the ascetic posture
of the sage. Mice are depicted at his feet and
nearby are remarkably realistic carvings of deer
and a monkey plucking fleas from its mate. The
“ascetic” cat is faking asceticism to get mice, aMonolithic stone architecture in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu (Constance A. Jones)
Mahabalipuram 267 J