Tamil Nadu & Chennai - South India and Kerala - page 722

slaying Pasupata. (Some scholars believe the carving shows not Arjuna but the sage Ba-
giratha, who did severe penance to obtain Shiva's help in bringing the Ganges to earth.)
Shiva is attended by dwarves, and celestial beings fly across the upper parts of the
carving, including the moon god (above Shiva) and sun god (right of the cleft) with orbs
behind their heads. Below Arjuna/Bagiratha appears a temple to Vishnu, mythical ancest-
or of the Pallava kings. The many wonderfully carved animals include a small herd of ele-
phants and - humour amid the holy - a cat performing penance to a crowd of appreciative
mice.
South along the road from Arjuna's Penance are the Panch Pandava Mandapa MAP
GOOGLE MAP ( 6.30am-6pm) , an unfinished cave temple; the Krishna Mandapa MAP
GOOGLE MAP ( 6.30am-6pm) , with a famous carving depicting Krishna lifting Govardhana
Hill above villagers and cows to protect them from a storm sent by the god Indra; an unfin-
ished relief carving GOOGLE MAP similar in size to Arjuna's Penance; and the Dharmaraja MAP

6.30am-6pm) . Cave Temple GOOGLE MAP ( MAP

1 Mamallapuram Hill

Many interesting monuments are scattered over the rock-strewn hill on the west side of
the town. It takes an hour or so to walk round the main ones. The hill area is open from
6am to 6pm and has two entrances: a northern one on West Raja St, and a southern one
just off Five Rathas Rd.
Straight ahead inside the northern entrance you can't miss the huge boulder that bears
the inspired name of Krishna's Butterball MAP GOOGLE MAP . Immovable, but apparently balan-
cing precariously, it's a favourite photo opportunity. Pass between some rocks north of
here to the Trimurti Cave Temple MAP GOOGLE MAP , honouring the Hindu 'trinity', with a
shrine for each deity: Brahma (left), Shiva (centre) and Vishnu (right). Around the back of
the same rock is a beautiful group of carved elephants, with a monkey and peacock.
Back south of Krishna's Butterball you reach the Ganesh Ratha MAP GOOGLE MAP , carved
from a single rock. Once a Shiva temple, it became a shrine to Ganesh (Shiva's elephant-
headed son) after the original lingam was removed. Southwest of here, the Varaha Mandapa
MAP GOOGLE MAP houses some of Mamallapuram's finest carvings. The left panel shows
Vishnu's boar avatar, Varaha, lifting the earth out of the oceans. The outward-facing pan-
els show Vishnu's consort Lakshmi (washed by elephants) and Durga, while the right-