Mahabalipuram

This place is also known as Mamallapuram is a coastal town located south of Chennai at a distance of about 60 KM. The East Coast road by the side of the sea will take you to Mamallapuram ( from Chennai city border ) in one our time depending on the traffic. On the way there are plenty of hotels, resorts, amusement parks up to this tourist town of Mahabalipuram. This place has became one of the popular destination for tourists visiting Chennai. From Chennai there are full day package tours arranged by Tamil Nadu Tourism covering Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram. The morning session till afternoon you can spend at Kanchipuram and then you can visit Mahabalipuram.

This place is famous for 8th century sea shore temple and Five Rathas.

For photography afternoon sun direction is favorable for the shore temple and five Rath temple.

The Ratha temple

This place is a world heritage site. Constructed out of big rocks, these temples are dedicated to five Pandava brothers. These raths were constructed by Pallava king Narasimhavarman-1 ( Mamalla ) in AD 630-668. A huge rock sloping from South to North was utilized to cut out different forms of temples and some animal sculptures. The elephant carved out from here is standing at the center of the rathas. These temples have all the characteristic features of south Indian temples like gopurams, pillared hall and variety of carved sculptures on the walls.

Entry fee is Rs 10 for Indian Citizens and Rs 250 or US $5 for others. Photography without stand is permitted. Hand held video is permitted at a fee of Rs 25. You can spend one hour here depending on your interest. Special permission is required to take video or photo with stand and special equipment.

After or before visiting this place you can visit the Shore temple.

Shore Temple

Located very close to the Mamallapuram market, this temple is located by the side of seawater. This was constructed during 8th century. One has to walk through the green grass lawn to reach the temple complex. These two temples exhibit the Dravidian architecture.

It is better to visit this place in afternoon for photography as sun light will be fall in front side of the temple with sea at background.

This article is written by go2india.in team.