Mahabalipuram

 

I'm standing by this monolith to give perspective for it size. It is named Krishna's Butterball.

January 21, 2026, Tuesday

We were supposed to be served breakfast at 6:30 this morning in the hotel, but when we got down there a few minutes early, it was empty! So, Karl tried to get things hopping and fifteen minutes later they pulled out the toast, cereal, fruit, juice and a few hot dishes came rolling out. We planned to get on the road by 7:00 am to avoid the heat, beat the traffic and hopefully get to Mahabalipuram before the crowds. It was a good plan. 

Students trying to nudge the Butterball down the hill. It didn't work.

Mahabalipuram is a world UNESCO site of 7th-8th century temples carved out of monoliths. Some are made of granite and some are carved in sandstone. Our tour guide led us to five in chronological order. Krishna's Butterball was the first.

The local tourists were very interested in us and wanted to take pictures together.

This is the cave-style shrine. It houses a shrine for the three important Hindu gods we have been learning about: Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. Our guide compared them to the Holy Trinity. Brahma is the Creator, Shiva the Preserver and Vishnu the Destroyer. Their combined roles represent the Hindu cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.

Karl was trending with his water bottle carrying technique, but it didn't seem to take off.

Arjuna's Penance

This relief sculpture depicts a story of Arjuna, a warrior, who performs several acts in order to obtain divine weapons from Lord Shiva. The scene is carved on two large monoliths. 

Krishna Mandapam

The pillared hall in front of the shrine is called a mandapam and was added in the 16th century. The interior carvings were made in the 7th century showing Krishna lifting the side of the mountain to  protect the cowherders.

The bus couldn't take us to some of the other sites, so we hired an auto rickshaw to take us. This one held five of us!

Five Rathas

Rathas in Sanskrit means chariot or cart. Our guide told us that each of these five rathas were carved in a different style of architecture. Scholars believe they were practicing to learn unique styles of architecture before they used them in other locations. This site was their laboratory for architectural design.

This lower portion in front of the Shore Temple is believed to be the place where they offered sacrifices.

This temple sits on the shore of the Bay of Bengal, hence the name. It was built in the 8th century. Some of the carvings have elements that look Egyptian, Chinese, Greek and Assyrian. Scholars say that these elements show that the trade route brought outside influences into India as much as Indian spices and later cotton were brought to diverse locations.

Reclining Vishnu carving in another location.

There are many reclining Buddhas in Southeast Asian temples and the idea for that design may have come from this part of South India.

We were standing in line to get into one of the sites and it was a line of our students and a line of young Indian students facing each other. One of our students was talking and started doing the six seven gesture. The young boys were watching her and they all started immediately doing it back.

We had a nice lunch in a local restaurant. We gave it a thumbs up for the recommendation.

Group shot in front of the restaurant.

We climbed to the top of an old lighthouse for the view.

We stopped at a beach on the way back to Chennai. The sea is too rough, so swimming is not allowed. But we wanted to stick our feet in the Bay of Bengal.