Mahabalipuram

Saturday, we visited Mahabalipuram. It is small town about an hour’s drive south of Chennai on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. This town is famous for stone cutters and sculptors. There are many buildings that incorporate stone in the materials. We acquired a guide, Kutty (pronounced KOO-tea), who is a local from the town. He explained things to us in very understandable English. He stayed with us for a couple of hours at a cost of about 600 Rupees (about $15).

One of the more impressive works is a shrine area within the town that is over 1500 years old that was created out of one very large piece of rock by minions of a long-ago king. There are several temples and sculptures that are part of the shrine that each part of the original one rock (or small mountain). All are much bigger than life. Kutty told us that animals were sacrificed here also and hence the name of the town, Mahabalipuram, which means “town of sacrificed animals”. Kutty explained that usually when carvings are made, the sculptor starts at the bottom and works his way up the sculpture. Because this was an immense rock, the sculptors started by carving their way from the top and working their way down. How they were able to keep dimensions correct and their design intact is a mystery to me. Also how they covered mistakes is unknown. This is one large piece of rock. The sculptors did not cut off a piece, create the sculpture, and then position it. Instead, the stone was carved down in place and is still all one piece. Each building and sculpture is still all part of one stone. It is an amazing piece of work.

Later in the same town, we visited a bas relief that is one of only three bas reliefs of this magnitude in the world according to Kutty. A bas relief is a carving on the face of a rock that depicts various aspects of life when the carvings were done. Essentially it looks like a stone “canvas” with three-dimensional “pictures” coming out of the stone wall. This bas relief was probably 20-30 feet high and maybe 100 yards long. It is also over 1500 years old. Kutty explained the references to the gods that were included in the relief. There are many people and animal references with stories for each in the relief. Again, quite impressive.

Mahabalipuram also has many sculptors and stone masons working today. We visited a shop with many goods carved from stone, marble, and granite. These items came in all shapes and sizes. I had my choice of items that were as small as marbles or as large as me. I saw many items that I thought would be great to have although I was not sure where in my home they would go. So I tried to restrict my shopping impulses.

The proprietor of the establishment liked us so much that he took us to the factory where these goods are made. The only guys we saw working at the time were workers who created busts and statues primarily for American and European customers. Each of these workers was chipping away at his respective piece with a hammer and chisel. The detail of the work determined the size of the chisel and the force of the hammer. The guys worked in an outside area behind one of the stores. It was hot outside and these guys were in a partially shaded area. It was shaded by trees or lean-to type of structures…definitely not high tech. And there was not a machine or lathe around. All of the work is done by hand.

Our next stop in the town was a temple also built about 1500 years ago. This particular temple was built near the beach and used for many centuries. It had impressive sculptures and ornate stone depictions. This one was built several sections at a time over many years. The sculptures and buildings were created without modern cement. They were attached together using an interlocking system of holes in the receiving rock with extensions to fit in the holes from the attaching pieces. Rather than using cement to seal the two pieces, a mixture of salt, lime, sand, and another local ingredient which I don’t remember were mixed together and used as a kind of paste. Then at some point, the water level changed and the temple was lost as it was completely underwater. It remained hidden for many centuries until a hundred years ago when it was re-discovered. A jetty was built around it to keep the water away, and it was restored as much as possible. Modern cement was added in places because the paste had begun to dissolve. Some of the carvings and other detail work have been smoothed because of the water but they are still very visible. Even with the restoration work, it is easy to recognize all the manual work that went into the original structure. And like the factory that we visited, there was no automation to create this structure.

Our next stop was a lighthouse said to be the oldest lighthouse in the work at 2000 years old. Again, this building was a stone building with impressive carvings. It sits on the top of a hill and there are many trees around it. In these trees are lots of monkeys. Unlike the United States where these monkeys would be cordoned off and kept away from people for fear of some calamity, these monkeys have free run of the area. So we American tourists bought bananas and proceeded to feed those monkeys. The monkeys came right up to us and took the bananas from our hands. After awhile they started following us. At one point, I tried to hide bananas in my back pack. One of those monkeys however started making a hissing noise and following me very closely because he knew I had them. I eventually gave him a banana and quickly walked away.

All in all, a good day. We returned to the hotel in the early afternoon. It was good to get back in the air conditioning. Most buildings that I have encountered during my week here are not air conditioned. Of course office buildings are but areas of the hotel are not. The rooms are air conditioned but the hallways are not. They can be quite stuffy sometimes. The hotel staff leaves lighted scented candles burning to try to mask the stuffiness. Unsupervised, lighted candles in an American hotel would probably not be allowed by some regulation but it is completely acceptable over here.

Until next time, namaste (pronounced NA-mah-steh). This means “Best Wishes for Good Health”.