The Granite-Carved Royal Monuments of Mamallapuram
In my last video I discussed the bizarre natural wonder known as Krishna’s Butterball, a large erratic boulder that balances on a bedrock slope, and has sparked the human imagination for centuries.
2021-04-02 19:00:00 - Ancient Architects
As stated, the boulder is part of the Mamallapuram UNESCO World Heritage site and in this video, I’m going to show you the other incredible monuments that led to such an internationally important status being granted.
It was a port city in the Pallava kingdom and the town was named after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, who was also known as Mahabali and Mamallan, meaning Great Wrestler or Great Warrior.
Many of the royal monuments are carved out of the living rock, and include rathas, meaning temples in the form of chariots, mandapas or cave sanctuaries, the giant open-air rock relief known at the Descent of the Ganges and the famous Shore Temple of Shiva.
Watch this video to find out more about this incredible lost city, to learn more about the fine granite stonework and how some monuments have been lost to the rising sea level, but were revealed during the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.